


So It Shall Be

by Draconicmaw



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ancient Egypt, Alternate Universe - Genie/Djinn, Djinn!Ryuuji, M/M, Mahad is a humble and kind boi, Nothing but Mahad positivity here, Principleshipping, Ryuuji becomes a pervert after chapter one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:21:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 20,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24779815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draconicmaw/pseuds/Draconicmaw
Summary: 'His mouth, dry, dropped open as the cloud swirled, and two vibrantly green orbs of light peered from within the crackling vortex.Eyes. They were eyes.“Again, another calls upon my power, releases me a brief while for the sake of three wishes,” a voice, smooth like honey but resonating and omnipresent and so powerful it nearly brought Mahad to his knees, murmured into the desert night.And, in all his dumbstruck daze, Mahad realized the nature of this entity; a Djinn, a spirit that lured humans to demise with the allure of three grand deeds.“Tell me, human, the name of my new master,” the spirit commanded, and that smoke twisted, twirled, wrapped itself into a human form standing before the sorcerer.“Mahad,” he breathed his own name, “the magician.” Though such a title seemed feeble in the presence of this creature.'
Relationships: Mahaado | Mahad/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin
Comments: 15
Kudos: 12





	1. So It Shall Be

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Traumastrike](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traumastrike/gifts), [Angel_Fantasy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Fantasy/gifts), [shadowchan93](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowchan93/gifts).



> The first two chapters are from Hatshipping Vol. I. I wanted to write a third part and decided to just create a separate fic where I collected all the parts together. This is dedicated to; Trauamastrike, who requested the first chapter; Angel_Fantasy, who requested the second; and shadowchan93, who made some beautiful Djinn Ryuuji fanart.
> 
> Anyway, here’s an ancient history (literally, this story is ancient history) AU with Djinn!Ryuuji and Mahad as… well, Mahad.
> 
> Also, here's that beautiful art made by shadowchan93 -- Djinn Ryuuji!

To say that the Pharaoh of Khemet received a multitude of gifts would be a grand understatement; he received more gifts in one moon cycle than a lesser man would receive in his and his children’s entire lifetimes. However, many of these gifts were not presented directly to the god-king himself. Of course, there was a quality and safety inspection; something given with the intention to inspire delight in the Pharaoh’s heart could just as easily be something given with the intention to send him to the immortal plane.

Priest Mahad sometimes became involved with these inspections, especially when magical essences were even so much as mentioned.

Such as now.

Priest Seth begrudgingly carried the urn forward. It was oblong, nearly awkward in height, and ancient; the paintings and carvings had long since worn off. But, even for its age, the clay from which it was fashioned was of the highest quality.

As soon as the other priest crossed the threshold of Mahad’s laboratory with that urn in tow, the fine hairs stood at attention on the back of his neck. Magical energy pulsed from the object as if it had an enormous metaphysical heart. It washed upon Mahad in overwhelming waves.

“By Nut and all her divine children, what _is_ that?” Mahad said, breathless and aghast.

Priest Seth’s scowl deepened, which Mahad had not realized was possible until that very moment. “Your guess is as good as mine. Some pretentious fool from the other side of the sea thought it would make a good gift for His Divinity.” With his tall frame, he easily hefted it onto a stone slab of a table. He growled a sigh through his nose.

Mahad almost frowned sympathetically. If Priest Seth, with all his boundless pride in his own abilities, sought help from Mahad on such a matter, it was clearly important.

Mahad was, in all actuality, the most powerful sorcerer in all of Khemet and beyond, though he would hardly admit to any of it. Priest Seth seemed to find indefinite issue with this fact, though no amount of studying or training seemed to change their standing.

Mahad stepped forward, despite every fiber of his being begging him to turn tail and run. It was instinctual: a magic of this magnitude was something he had never encountered before. It made his own skills seem like child’s play. He leaned closer. The worn lid was sealed with thick wax.

“Is it inherently magical… or does it contain some sort of magic within it?” he muttered, cautiously trailing his finger along the seal. The urn seemed to thrum, warm and humming – like a living being, beneath his touch.

“One cannot be sure without opening it,” Priest Seth responded to Mahad’s rather rhetorical musings. “The one who gifted it was ranting about three wishes, or something or other. He was clearly out of his mind, so it is rather difficult to give his words objective consideration.”

“We cannot allow His Divinity to open it. The consequences are unfathomable,” Mahad said, shuddering at the thought.

“Obviously.”

Mahad exhaled slowly.

There was but one thing to do.

* * *

The desert at night was fiercely cold, a true jackal; with its chilling teeth it would snatch away the unwitting: the elderly, the young babes in their sleep, the ones with weak lungs and weaker constitutions. Yet, there was no better time to travel, for the harsh light of Ra made an even greater adversary than the soft glow of the moon.

Deeper into the west desert Mahad ventured, and the dull sound of hooves plodding into sand was just barely audible over the sibilant whispers of the wind. Save for those simple noises and the occasional snorts from Mahad’s horse, all was silent here, in this inhospitable wasteland of shifting sands.

The isolation made perfect conditions for Mahad’s endeavor; if plans were to go awry, no unsuspecting bystanders would be harmed.

He glanced back over his shoulder, where the wind was already brushing away the hoofprints in the sand. Far into the horizon, he could only see the bare crests of dunes.

He’d ventured far enough, he surmised.

With but a tug on the reins, the horse stopped its steady pace, and Mahad’s tall form easily dismounted from the simple saddle.

He unstrapped the urn from the back. His hands nearly went numb just from touching it, but he could feel how oddly warm it was despite the biting chill of the night.

The horse snorting again, pawed at the sand. It had shown great discomfort when he’d first brought the object into its proximity, but it seemed to have acclimated over the journey. Now, its ear flicked back, and it gnashed its teeth against its bit. Its tail lashed its haunches viciously.

Mahad patted its flank, cooed soothingly until it stopped shifting so restlessly, traced a faint tranquility spell onto its hide.

With the beast calmed to a satisfactory temperament, he turned back to the matter at hand.

He stepped away from his horse, and his sandals slipped on and sunk into the silver-stained grains of the desert. He set the urn down, and with a shaking, numb finger, picked at the wax sealing the urn’s lid to its body.

He sighed through his nose. He could probably just pluck the lid straight off, but the magic pulsed like a crescendoing drum beat. Trepidation gnawed at the back of his neck.

At least if he died, it was in service to Pharaoh Atem.

And he took the lid off.

In all honesty, Mahad had imagined something more… explosive. A burst of magic, perhaps fire pouring forth in a furious breath.

Instead, a thick fog, or perhaps smoke, seemed to rise forth, spilled over the edges in long, curling wisps, more, more, _more_ , thick and gray and dark, until it formed a roiling cloud that crackled and spit with tiny starbursts of static. Mahad’s skin grew hot yet numb in the overwhelming presence of this magic, swelling and awesome, an inferno in comparison to the oscillating pulse from earlier.

His mouth, dry, dropped open as the cloud swirled, and two _vibrantly_ green orbs of light peered from within the crackling vortex.

Eyes. They were eyes.

“Again, another calls upon my power, releases me a brief while for the sake of three wishes,” a voice, smooth like honey but resonating and _omnipresent_ and so powerful it nearly brought Mahad to his knees, murmured into the desert night.

And, in all his dumbstruck daze, Mahad realized the nature of this entity; a Djinn, a spirit that lured humans to demise with the allure of three grand deeds.

“Tell me, human, the name of my new master,” the spirit commanded, and that smoke twisted, twirled, wrapped itself into a human form standing before the sorcerer.

“Mahad,” he breathed his own name, “the magician.” Though such a title seemed feeble in the presence of this creature.

Finally, the cloud coalesced into flesh, sallow and glowing golden from within as if a fire burned beneath the man’s skin. Brilliant red robes, extravagant but so foreign in style billowed about as if the material were suspended under water. Black hair, thick as the night and longer still, drifted similarly alongside a face of such ethereal beauty it stole Mahad’s very breath from his lungs. Verdant eyes to rival any emerald pierced into him.

“A magician?” the Djinn repeated, and it seemed as if he felt the same way about the moniker as Mahad. Toned, golden arms crossed, and gold cuffs, adorned with chains that faded gradually from material existence, glittered from the spirit’s forearms. ”Well, Mahad the magician, my new master, you may call me Ryuuji.”

Mahad gulped, but it hurt with how dry his mouth had become. “Ryuuji…”

This power had a name.

This power… which had obviously been sealed away for good reason.

“... How do I return you to the urn?” Mahad asked.

That beautiful face twisted into such contempt that Mahad feared ever more for his own mortality. “You wish to banish me to my eternal prison so soon? If so, you must make your three wishes. There is no other way.”

Mahad shook his head. By the gods, no. What had he done?

Though better him than His Divinity.

“I know your kind, spirit. I know that any deeds I ask of you will only cause more harm than good. You desire not to fulfill my wishes, only to bring me suffering,” Mahad replied, and somehow he had gathered the strength to speak with such conviction.

A dark, fine brow arched. “Is that so?”

Mahad just noticed that his numbness was starting to subside. Perhaps his body was quickly acclimating to this overwhelming presence of magic. “Yes.”

“But I could grant you anything, _anything_ you may desire, sorcerer,” Ryuuji said, and in such seductive tones that any lesser man would have been swayed.

“Nothing I desire you could grant me, Spirit of the Urn,” Mahad said with utmost confidence.

“Oh? But are you not a seeker of knowledge? I could give you all of the knowledge this world and the next ones have to offer, all of the darkest secrets of the universe,” Ryuuji said, and he hovered closer, his slender, glowing fingers caressing under Mahad’s chin.

Mayas blinked, though his chin was burning and numb under the spirit's tantalizing touch. "I find fulfillment not in the knowledge itself, but in the journey to find it. What is the point of knowledge without having the wisdom you gained learning it?"

Those dark brows immediately burrowing over wide, striking green eyes. But Ryuuji recovered quickly, and a confident smirk curled his shapely lips. "Power? A magician such as yourself could never have too much power."

Mahad shook his head slowly, yet held eye contact with the Djinn before him. "Refer to my previous response."

Ryuuji scoffed, and it seemed as though the sound changed the direction of the very wind about them. "You must want something, human. You are not without greed or desire."

"I never said I was, but I simply do not wish for you to grant me these things. I prefer I procure them myself," Mahad replied stoically.

That bare contempt resurfaced on the Djinn's face for another split second. And then he became sly, a jackal in the reeds. "I sense your _loneliness_ , magician," Ryuuji simpered, and he drew that almighty finger along Mahad's tense lips. "I know the emptiness of your heart." Yes, his smirk was that of a jackal. "And your bed." He chuckled, sensual, mocking. "I could make you irresistible to those whom you focus your advances. No creature could withstand your wiles. You have but to wish it and it shall be so."

Mahad finally snapped his head away from that burning touch, though his feet were still immobile in the sand. " _Vile_ ," he spat, "I'd allow no one in my bed if they did not choose it for themselves. If they do not value me without the aid of magic, they have no place partaking of my body."

Ryuuji bared his teeth, and they gleamed like pearls in the night. "You were so eager to send me back yet you wish for nothing. I hope you realize I will be bound to you for eternity if you do not command of me these three things."

"Then it shall be so!" Mahad growled back, and in all his indignation he finally managed to brush past the spirit to snatch up the urn.

"Hmph!" And the spirit drifted after him, even after he strapped the urn to the saddle and mounted his horse.

The ride back to the capital was long and filled with tense silence. Mahad could only reel after the turn of events.

This was dangerous, utterly dangerous. Could he survive the rest of his days with that temptation constantly lurking at his fingertips?

He sighed, his breath clouding in the frosty desert air. He'd have to, he'd withstood worse.

And he supposed there was a bright side: if Ryuuji was bound to Mahad until the end of his days, at least in the meantime the Djinn wouldn't bring any other unfortunate soul to misery.

* * *

That golden glow reflected in Priest Seth's wide blue eyes. "A… Djinn?"

Mahad barely glanced up from the scroll he was so carefully penning notes into. "Indeed."

Ryuuji sighed loudly, and several scraps of papyrus flapped in Mahad's sizable laboratory and study. "Please do not speak of me as if I am not here, humans."

Priest Seth frowned. "He is unpleasant. It is a good thing His Divinity is not bound to such a being."

"Hypocrisy," the Djinn spat. "You _snake_. I sensed your arrogance before we even gained sight of the capital."

"Ryuuji, this is Priest Seth. Priest Seth, this is Ryuuji," Mahad blandly introduced, quite late, he supposed. "Now please be quiet. I am trying to finish my notes."

"Is that a wish? A command?" Ryuuji inquired.

"No. Simply a request. The choice to obey or not is entirely yours," Mahad replied. "You are, after all, still fully autonomous despite our bindings. In fact, I recommend touring the capital and the palace. It is simply gorgeous this time of year, and I am sure you deserve such freedom after being locked in that damn urn for however long."

Seth watched the Djinn stare at Mahad in confounded silence. "As lovely as that sounds," Ryuuji began slowly, as if the words took great thought, "I am compelled to remain within a certain proximity to my master. You, in this case."

Mahad finally turned his head away from his work. He frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose I will have time after I am finished with my notes. Or do you desire to go now?"

A long blink of vivid green eyes. "I can… I can wait."

Mahad looked back down to his papyrus. He gesticulated vaguely to a shelf to his left. It had honeycomb cubbies filled with scrolls. "I have plenty of reading material if you seek to entertain yourself in the meantime."

Seth shook his head at the two and left without a word. Even _he_ had a hard time holding up a derisive front to Mahad's endless patience and kindness. It seemed even a Djinn could not maintain an unpleasant demeanor to the most powerful, and the humblest, sorcerer in the known world.

* * *

It didn't take long for Mahad to learn the rules of Ryuuji's powers, either by the Djinn himself telling him or Mahad's own observations.

The Djinn could make nearly anything materialize from thin air, but only if it served the Djinn's own purposes. A curse, the Djinn explained, that any other who wanted to benefit from his magic must do so by wishing. But only Mahad, or Ryuuji's master in general, could have a wish granted. The palace handmaidens, so besotted by the beautiful Djinn spirit that lingered about the High Priest, would often make wishes in jest, or even sometimes seriously.

Ryuuji could only stray about fifty meters before the golden chains trailing from his wrists would grow taut and restrain him from venturing any farther. That rule led to Mahad taking longer and more frequent journeys from the palace: it guilted him so when the Djinn was trapped around Mahad's laboratory with very little with which to entertain himself.

Ryuuji could not return to the urn, even for rest. He was bound to the outside world. Mahad made sure living accommodations for the spirit were promptly set, even if Ryuuji could summon himself a bed if he so desired. After all, even if this situation were not quite desirable for either parties, Mahad would not let himself be anything but hospitable to the spirit.

Ryuuji could change his appearance, if only marginally, but perhaps that was only his preference; after all, in his natural form he had beauty unrivaled by any mortal creature. Why alter perfection? as he said when Mahad inquired as to how far the alterations could go.

There were probably others. Probably more that Mahad himself had noticed but didn't bother to remember.

After all, he had all his life to learn about his new companion.

* * *

*six moons after that fateful night in the desert*

First, it was the cries of a woman in labor. For two days and two nights, the queen struggled through the throes of childbirth. Mahad was present for the arduous hours, tracing tranquilities spells on her forehead between contractions. Pharaoh Atem sat at his wife's side and prayed and gripped her hand in both of his and brushed her hair away. His red eyes were dark with exhaustion but not once did he sleep.

But the midwives looked grim.

It was when the babe was finally expelled from his mother's body that those cries of pain and exertion morphed into wails of anguish.

The babe had been stillborn.

Never before had Mahad seen such sorrow in Atem's eyes as he held his tiny, motionless son in his trembling arms.

"He would've been named after you, Mahad," Atem had whispered, and perhaps it was only the lingering dregs of his dignity as god-king of Khemet that kept him from weeping openly to all present.

Then, all others but the king and his queen were banished from the royal chambers, so the divine couple could privately grieve the life of a child they would never meet on the mortal plane.

The gods would allow the unborn prince to paradise, Mahad was sure.

Still, as he sat in his study, Mahad could only watch the midday sun glitter on the waters of the Nile. Behind his closed eyes, amongst the lingering ghosts of shimmering light, he saw only those agonized scarlet eyes.

If anyone deserved happiness, it was His Divinity.

Then, he had a thought. An idea. Perhaps… perhaps he could use just one…

"Ryuuji," he said quietly, "I desire to use my first wish."

And the Djinn was immediately at his side. "My master…" he murmured, and his golden hand laid gently on Mahad's broad shoulder. The burning intensity of his touch was somehow comforting. "Bringing one back from the dead is a grave mistake… even I have no idea who I would drag from the immortal realm."

Mahad slowly shook his head. "No, that was not what I had in mind."

Ryuuji's hand tightened the slightest amount, and Mahad finally turned to meet the Djinn's furrowed brow and burning green eyes. "I wish…" he exhaled slowly, then took a deep breath, "I wish for His Divinity, Pharaoh Atem, to live a long life filled with happiness and purpose, that he know no suffering or sorrow as he does this day."

Thick lashes parted wider. That elegant jaw was slack.

"Can you… grant me this wish, Djinn?" Mahad asked, and he wondered if he looked as desperate as he felt.

Ryuuji's voice was so soft, as if surprise stole away the confidence and bravado with which he usually spoke. "I can," and then he spoke with greater conviction, with magical power that made the air undulate and the ground tremble, "So it shall be. Consider it done, my master."

Mahad nodded, chin tensing and a single tear cascading down his cheek. He turned back to his work, though one hand gently gripped the one still resting on his shoulder. "Thank you, my friend."

* * *

*eleven moon cycles after the fateful night in the desert*

Several of Mahad's duties required him to travel Khemet and pay his respects at various shrines littered across the desertous, yet paradisiacal, country.

Ryuuji basked in it all. Never had he been out of his prison for such a length of time. Typical mortals spent their wishes without much thought, all impulsive desires that fed their appetitive sides.

Each time, he visited the slums, where he gave out food and drink and magic to the poor and suffering.

"The Pharaoh cannot be all places all at once, and he cannot control the weather that nourishes the crops. It pains him, all of us at the court, to know that suffering lingers in our beloved country."

Ryuuji, for once, did not doubt these words, words had heard so many times from so many mouths. It seemed that the royalty and courtiers of Khemet ate as modestly as possible to reduce food wastage.

Pharaoh Atem was truly worthy of the throne, and Ryuuji could wholly empathize with Mahad's decision for his first wish: Atem was a king who took the burdens of his people onto his own shoulders. He most certainly deserved a lifetime of happiness for his struggles.

It was the first completely selfless wish Ryuuji had ever granted a mortal, and the only one he didn't twist sadistically to inflict the most amount of suffering unto the wisher.

Mahad deserved far more respect than that.

Again, Mahad was handing out bread and preserved meats to the people of the slums. With but a touch, he healed minor sickness and wounds.

A little girl blushed as she accepted a small treat from the tall, imposing magician. He knelt down, drew gentle fingers along her face to push her wild hair from her eyes. The Djinn smiled on, crouched next to him as Mahad laid a palm on her head.

"Considered your fever vanquished, my child," Mahad said softly.

She smiled, all teeth and sparkling eyes, and moved forward to engulf the High Priest in her tiny embrace. Mahad chuckled gently and pressed a kiss to her temple.

Ryuuji reached forward, and his golden hand -- though the glow was muted to prevent staring from bystanders -- stroked through that child's hair, soft as the down of a hatchling bird.

Mahad stared at him, and his eyes widened in revelation before his face settled into its typical stoic expression. "I have been a selfish man," he said quietly, petting the girl's back before he drew away and stood.

Ryuuji frowned at him. "Master… you are far from selfish."

Mahad shook his head slowly, "No, I have wished for the well-being of a single man, when so many more need my help."

Ryuuji's eyes widened so much they ached. "Do you mean…?"

"I wish for the people of Khemet live long, healthy lives, where they know no hunger, see no war, and feel no ill." He firmly met the Djinn's stunned gaze. "Can you grant my wish, Djinn?"

Ryuuji's breath stuttered in his lungs. "I can." He stood as well, slowly, purposefully, though, without the hovering, he was a full head shorter than the magician. "So it shall be. Consider it done, my master."

Mahad gripped his shoulder and squeezed gently. Those eyes sparkled with gratitude, yet still he whispered, "Thank you, my friend."

* * *

*two years after that fateful night in the desert*

Ryuuji found himself dreading that third wish, and not for the reasons he normally did.

Yes, he desired to return the urn as much as he desired to take a bath in manure… but he realized that what he would miss most was his current master. He would miss Mahad. There could never be a master quite like Mahad. Mahad the kind, Mahad the patient, Mahad the humble, Mahad the utterly, _stupidly_ selfless.

It was only a matter of time before Mahad thought of some noble cause to spend it on.

Ryuuji honestly expected him to wish for the health and wellness of the entire mortal plane, but Mahad said that that was entirely unreasonable and beyond even Ryuuji's power. He was correct, much to Ryuuji's relief; it meant that Mahad had to spend time to think of something else on which to spend his final wish.

That time seemed to stretch on forever; after all, Mahad had everything he needed to rest well at night -- his king and his people were guaranteed to live full, happy lives.

His final wish came at a most terrible moment.

They were far away from the sands of Khemet, across the sea and amongst the islands of the Greek city-states.

Though Ryuuji never purposely did anything to bring suffering to his master, it seemed his presence alone could accomplish just that.

The logic was easy to follow; kill the master of the urn, and the Djinn returns to his prison to await a new master.

And so they tried.

Mahad was a powerful magician, no doubt, but there was only so much he could do when surprise attacked.

Magic flared and blasted all around. The large pendant around his neck flared and glowed, and balls of fire launched from the top of his staff. Yet still, he clutched his stomach, where startling, wet crimson stained his pale robe.

Ryuuji fluttered, panicked helplessly. Again and again, he attempted some sort of spell, _anything_ to help his wounded master, but the curse snuffed all his endeavors before they could be realized.

Mahad snarled, and a final blast of fire and darkness pushed the assassins back. He stood, panting and blanched and sweating coldly, staff still outstretched, until he collapsed against the wall.

Ryuuji rushed to his side. "Mahad!" He set his hands over his master's, felt that hot liquid pulse over his fingers in time with Mahad's wildly pounding heart. "How deep is it?" He panted, pressed hard to keep pressure on the wound.

"D-Deep enough," Mahad said, gritty with pain and wan from blood loss.

"H-Heal yourself!" Ryuuji cried as more and more blood gushed over their joined fingers.

"You know I can't," Mahad groaned, fingers trembling beneath Ryuuji's.

It was true -- a magician's healing spells had no effect on himself.

Ryuuji gasped, looked emphatically into Mahad's half-lidded eyes. "A wish! Make a wish, Mahad. _I_ can save you!"

Mahad shook his head slowly, a pained smile curling his lips. "No. If the gods have fated me to die, I will accept it. If I am not, so be it."

Ryuuji choked on a sob, "Please, Mahad. You have one last wish, _please_ use it for yourself."

Mahad lifted one hand, stained by his own blood, up to cup the Djinn's tear-soaked cheek. "Say, how long have you been cursed, Ryuuji?"

Ryuuji shook his head, _you're wasting time, you foolish, **foolish** man. _"I don't know. Several millennia. It doesn't matter now!"

"Several millennia." Mahad's hand dropped down to weakly grip a gold cuff on Ryuuji's forearm. "Quite a long time to be trapped periodically in a jar, wouldn't you say, my friend?"

"Shut up and make the wish, you blithering idiot!" Ryuuji snapped.

Mahad chuckled. "I wish…" he once again cupped Ryuuji's cheek. "I wish for you to be free, Ryuuji." He breathed raggedly, and the faint wind of it fluttered on Ryuuji's trembling lips. "Can you grant me that, Djinn?"

"I can," Ryuuji choked.

"I wish it, Djinn. Make it so." His head thumped back against the wall.

"Please --"

"Make it so, my friend," Mahad said softly.

"So it shall be. Consider it done, my master."

* * *

Ryuuji, despite his stature in relation to Mahad, easily carried the other man away.

The bleeding had stopped. In fact, the flesh was completely sealed. But still, the loss of blood and magic forced Mahad into a state of unconsciousness.

Ryuuji cursed his own panicked stupidity.

Of course, in his freedom from the curse, he could heal Mahad's wound.

And he could have just teleported away, but he took the opportunity to relish the sensation of Mahad in his arms. His arms felt lighter, stronger without the constant weight of his chains.

This selfless, stupid man.

Mahad stirred, his head lolling against Ryuuji's shoulder. "You're… you're still here…"

"You shan't rid yourself of me so easily, Mahad," he whispered.

"You're free," Mahad replied. "Go, be free."

Ryuuji winked at him. "You are my master no longer. I shall do as I please, mortal."

Mahad laughed quietly, his eyes falling closed.

"I could have killed you, you know. It is good to distrust a Djinn," Ryuuji said softly.

"Yet you didn't. Yet you healed me. You are a man of honor, Ryuuji."

"Only you know the true meaning of honor, Mahad, of all my masters," Ryuuji said solemnly.

Mahad said nothing, only rested his cheek on Ryuuji's shoulder.

Ryuuji paused a moment. He pressed a kiss to Mahad's slack lips. They responded, gentle and firm, and Ryuuji smiled softly.

He should not have dreaded that final wish so; it was only Mahad's nature to use it for Ryuuji's sake.

Ryuuji knew he would have a long life, filled with happiness, if only because Mahad would wish it so.

And so it shall be.


	2. Destined To Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second part -- warning, it contains smut.

The sunlight pouring onto his face stained the backs of his eyelids a dusky orange. He breathed deeply and basked in the warmth. When his chest expanded so greatly, a twinge of pain spasmed in his abdomen. He coughed in response, and it only wracked his body and made it that much more uncomfortable. 

“Mahad!”

Hot, gentle hands cupped his face.

When his eyes languidly blinked open, all he saw was warm gold and glittering green. “Ryuuji.” His tongue felt heavy and dry, like he had eaten a mouthful of sand.

“Let me --” and one hot hand was pressed right where the pain was.

His arm felt so heavy and liquid, But he managed to wrap his fingers around a delicate, smooth wrist. “No. Don’t waste magic on something so trivial.”

Ryuuji scoffed hotly, and Mahad felt his own lips twitch into a small smile. 

“I have much more magic than you could ever hope to have, and I have seen you use spells for smaller ailments,” Ryuuji huffed.

“How I use my magic is my own business,” Mahad replied, eyes falling heavily shut again.

“And mine is mine, as well!” And another hand joined the first one.

“I enjoy being human. Let me feel pain like one, too,” was Mahad’s murmured response.

“Must you be so difficult?” Ryuuji growled.

“I suppose I must.”

Ryuuji’s hands softened, brushing up the skin of Mahad’s chest to cup his cheeks again. “I don’t relish seeing you in pain.” Mahad felt Ryuuji’s sigh rush against his skin. “But I shall respect your wishes.”

“Mm, you have my gratitude,” Mahad breathed. “Your warmth brings me comfort, Ryuuji. Lie closer?”

“Of course.” And his overwhelming aura of magic and heat was settling gently against Mahad on his uninjured side. His cheek settled on Mahad’s chest. Mahad lifted an arm to wrap it loosely about the Djinn curling into him. Hair, soft like silk and so long, brushed against his skin. He could _feel_ Ryuuji’s breath hitch. He was long and lean, thin but firm and flexible. “Anything you wish, Mahad,” he whispered. His breath fanned Mahad’s skin. It jolted through his nerves, hot as lightning but cold as ice, and Mahad felt his flesh prickle with goosebumps. 

Mahad chuckled, languidly twined his finger into those endless black strands. “It sounds as though you mean to pamper me like a prince.”

Lips, soft and warm and smooth, puckered against his skin. “I’d worship you if you would only let me. I’d build great halls in your honor, monuments that would never fall. I’d carve your name into every mountain for all to see.” Perhaps from others, these would simply be words of flattery, but from a being like Ryuuji… he most certainly could do all these things with but a snap of his fingers.

“I don’t deserve these things,” Mahad whispered. “I am but a simple man, a priest devoted to king and country. There are greater men to dedicate these things to.”

“No, Mahad,” Ryuuji said, suddenly sitting up, and Mahad opened his eyes slowly to watch how those green eyes burned so passionately. “There are no men greater than you.” He shook his head slower. “Not in my eyes.” He leaned down, his hair spilling down and curtaining them and brushing along Mahad’s skin sensuously. His palm laid over Mahad’s chest, where, inside, his heart thrummed against his ribs. “No man has a heart purer, kinder than yours. I’d sooner find a four-headed snake than meet a living creature as loyal and selfless as you.”

Mahad reached up to cup that glowing cheek. “You could conjure a four-headed snake from mist easily.”

“Accept my damn compliments, you oaf!”

Mahad laughed softly, his thumb skimming over regal cheekbones. “So be it. Your words warm my heart and fill me with happiness.” His heart stuttered in his chest when the Djinn nuzzled into his palm. “The fact that you regard me so highly is utterly wondrous and humbling.” He smiled, slow and syrupy with exhaustion, blood loss, and affection. “Does this please you?”

Fine, shapely lips pursed. “I suppose.”

Mahad’s thumb traced their soft edges, and his eyes followed helplessly. “In all the world, there is no creature as resplendent as you, Ryuuji,” he whispered when Ryuuji kissed his thumb. “Tell me, where are we?”

“An inn near the state house,” Ryuuji replied, eyes closing, and he leaned even further into Mahad’s touch.

“And not the state house itself? I believe several of my belongings reside in the room the governor provided for us.”

Ryuuji’s eyes narrowed, fierce. “I have my suspicions of that place; I have reason to believe the men who accosted us are from the state house. I would not return you there in this state.”

“Understandable,” Mahad replied. 

“And I summoned your belongings here,” Ryuuji added. 

“Of course,” came Mahad’s murmur, and his hand slid back to Ryuuji’s neck, and those silky strands were so easily tangled in his fingers. “I have a question for you, one I am sure will stir your ire, but I must know the answer…” 

“Anything,” Ryuuji whispered

“Do you remain at my side because of duty, because of perceived debt to me for freeing you?” He studied deeply those vivid green irises, but they were an ageless well of secrets.

“No.” Ryuuji was entirely emphatic, the golden glow of his skin intensifying. “I remain here with you because I can imagine no where else to be but by your side.”

“I presume then that if I ask to once again drink of your kisses, you will allow it not out of obligation to me but because you wish to taste my lips in return?” Mahad croaked.

“Oh, most definitely, I wish it,” Ryuuji breathed. “I’ve wished it for so long.”

A breathy laugh, “Let us partake,” and Ryuuji was leaning down to join their lips. Mahad’s fingers trembled in Ryuuji’s hair, against his cheek, as their kisses melted between them and bled into their skin like sunshine. Ryuuji was warm and sweet and tender. His long fingers cupped Mahad’s jaw before sliding down to caress the side and back of his neck. 

“Tell me, Ryuuji, how long you’ve yearned to kiss me,” Mahad asked low, his husky voice unrecognizable to even himself.

“When I returned with you to the royal palace, and you provided a bed for me because you would have felt guilty otherwise. I knew then you were truly cut from a different cloth than my previous masters,” Ryuuji readily supplied. 

“You thought me silly, didn’t you?” Mahad said, chuckling, lips trembling at the corner of Ryuuji’s.

“Perhaps.” Ryuuji’s voice was thick with humor. “But I knew you considerate, kind, and honorable.” He nipped at Mahad’s upper lip. “Though that was when I knew I wanted to kiss you, I didn’t come to be completely besotted by you until you made your first wish.” He kissed the bridge of Mahad’s nose. “Strong.” His lips. “Noble.” But his eyes were wide open and staring into Mahad’s own. “So caring and devoted. As I found, the perfect concoction to bring me to my knees.”

Mahad’s hand tightened in that abyssal hair, and Ryuuji closed his eyes and whimpered against Mahad’s lips. Mahad kissed him, slow and tender but burning. When he’d kissed Ryuuji breathless, he pulled the Djinn up so he could have the room to pant and speak.

“I knew you to be the most beautiful man I’d ever see when I first laid eyes upon you,” Mahad admitted. “Though at the time you were most dangerous to me, unassuming but deadly as an adder. And then I came to know your heart, the warmth stifled by those before me.” Mahad’s eyes softened, repentant. “I was selfish, Ryuuji.”

“Never,” Ryuuji croaked back.

“No, I was, utterly. I hesitated to make my final wish because I feared losing you. I wanted your presence near me, and I couldn’t bear to send you back to that accursed urn, and I was certain you would leave if I set you free. Forgive me.”

“I cannot forgive if you have done no wrong,” Ryuuji insisted. “You foolish man.”

“When I was sure I would meet my end, I knew I couldn’t let you remain imprisoned, enslaved for eternity.”

“I adore you.” The whisper was rough but soft as the breeze.

“Then grant me this wish…” Mahad replied. 

“Yes, anything.”

“I grow weary again. Rest here with me. Lay in this bed with me and let me feel your warmth as I sleep.”

“Of course. You need not say more.”

They shared one last kiss before they settled back down. Ryuuji was in his arms, and he smelled so sweetly of lotus and pomegranates, and the scent lulled Mahad back to the warm abyss of sleep.

* * *

His next time waking up, sometime in the evening, occurred much more easily and with far less pain. 

His mouth was still arid as the desert, and he rolled his tongue uncomfortable as he slowly awakened. Gentle hands, Ryuuji’s hands, slowly tugged him until he was sitting up, and then the rim of a clay cup brushed his lips. He lifted his own hands up to grasp the cup and Ryuuji’s hand and smiled thankfully to the Djinn that eyed him so carefully.

“Much better,” he hummed after a few healthy gulps.

Ryuuji set the cup aside. He slowly stood. “Your robe was torn and drenched in blood.” He lifted up clean linen. “I fixed it.” Though they both knew it was a simple task for him to magic it better. 

Mahad swung his legs over the bed. Beneath the sheet falling from his body, he was just in his undergarments. “Are you so determined to wait on me hand and foot?”

“When you are injured, yes. I thought I had healed all of it earlier, but it appears as though I was wrong. And now you demand that I resist my urge to repair it,” Ryuuji replied, rather testily.

“I am fine,” Mahad replied softly, gesturing to his body, where not even a scar was left behind.

“The pain earlier--”

“My frail human mind, I’m sure.” Mahad stood, easily, steadily. “Human bodies cannot possibly be used to a wound instantaneously healing. I’m certain my subconscious was slow on the uptake.”

“If you say so.”

Mahad craned his neck down to brush a kiss to the Djinn’s pouting lips. “I am grateful for the concern, Ryuuji.”

Mahad accepted the robe from his hands and dressed.

Those verdant eyes stayed locked on him all the while, and he felt heat rush to his cheeks.

Ryuuji hummed, toned arms crossing. “If it weren’t for how I perceived your state, I may have been inclined to grope you as you slept.”

Mahad sputtered.

One of those slender, golden hands waved dismissively. “Banish such embarrassment. I assure you, we both would have enjoyed ourselves immensely.”

Mahad’s tongue was in a tangled web in his mouth. Instead of looking into those sparkling, sultry green eyes, he focused on tying the sash to his robe.

A chuckle, purring and hungry thrummed on the air, and then that silky voice -- all hot and breathy -- was simpering right into his ear from behind. “When I say I want to worship you, I mean in the absolute _best_ of ways.”

Mahad whirled, but Ryuuji was already gone, instead a hot wave rolling over his back again. Ryuuji pressed right into him, warm and firm and lithe and making the blood in Mahad’s veins boil hot. Those hands rested just briefly on his sides and slithered over his ribs and crept up his pectoral muscles. A gentle flash of teeth on the cartilage of his ear, and he heard the hiss of Ryuuji’s breath. These sensual touches left a burning trail, and the sensation sunk down into his very bones. He trembled where he stood. It’d been so long since he’d been _touched_ like this…

“I want to pleasure you until my touch is carved into your soul...” he gently, desirously clawed down Mahad’s chest, “... like my palms are impressed upon it, so only my hands could fit,” Ryuuji whispered, a tangle of tongue and teeth and lips at Mahad’s earlobe. 

Mahad panted, turned his head just enough to brush his cheek against Ryuuji’s. That inky black hair floated about them as if suspended in a pond. “It’s already so,” Mahad croaked, his own hands closing over the ones enticing him. 

Ryuuji moaned, a soft, broken sound, and leaned his cheek more firmly against Mahad’s. They watched together as Ryuuji’s hands -- with Mahad’s laid atop them -- hungrily inched across his heaving chest. “It’s already so,” Ryuuji echoed, one hand peregrinating down. “Yes,” it was a growling moan, pushed out between clenched jaws as he palmed where Mahad was swelling with desire. “I cannot help but feel your body was made for me to touch it.” Mahad couldn’t help how he spasmed, how his head fell back against Ryuuji’s flowing hair and firm shoulder. Heat rushed under his skin, and he felt sweat bead beneath his robe. He panted so hotly he wondered if he would dry out his lungs and they would shrivel up and he would suffocate in this inferno.

Ryuuji’s breath was just as hot in his ear, and that second wily hand slid up, and with perfect precision, his fingers rolled over Mahad’s nipple through his robe. A groan punched _through_ Mahad, made him jolt, and it left his quivering lips without any chance of it being restrained.

“Or maybe, all those eons ago when I came to be, _my hands_ were created for _this,_ ” Ryuuji hissed, as his hands assailed Mahad’s senses in tandem. “Created for _you_ , my beloved Mahad.”

Mahad’s head bowed to the side, his neck tight with tension as Ryuuji was quick to press his lips to the bared skin, and the cry that tore from Mahad rattled them both to the bones. 

This was _too much -- too much, too fast_ , and that pressure was building, like electricity in the air before a supercell storm, before that first bolt of lightning split the sky asunder like divine fury and snapped the tension and brought down the pounding rain. 

And Ryuuji was touching him faster, _firmer_ , fingers gripping and sliding over fabric that concealed hot flesh.

Mahad was sure he was saying something. Perhaps he was saying Ryuuji’s name. Perhaps he was beginning him to stop. Perhaps he was begging him for _more, more, more_. But in the fevered delirium, he couldn’t tell down from up, much less what sounds he made. 

But he could _feel_ when Ryuuji’s hand crept away, towards his armpit. He whimpered at the loss, but then that hot hand was slithering into the short sleeve of his robe and up to the bare skin. The pad of Ryuuji’s thumb brushed over his bare nipple and then it was pressing in firm circles directly on it. Pinching, rubbing, and Mahad’s bones were melting inside his body and pouring out through his mouth and from his wildly bucking hips. He was nuzzling roughly into Ryuuji’s smooth cheek and panting against his skin in hitching, moaning breaths as the storm broke and left devastation in its wake. His hands were clenching over Ryuuji’s, holding them to his body as the thunder crashed through his limbs.

“Oh yes, give it to me,” Ryuuji was hissing. “Mine eyes have never seen a sight so glorious.”

The tension faded, and left Mahad standing there, trembling and on the verge of falling to his knees.

“Ry-Ryuuji,” he gasped against the other’s neck.

The other hummed, eyes half-lidded, and he continued to gently play with Mahad’s oversensitive body. “Delectable.” He was warm at Mahad’s back wrapped around him like this, and Mahad let his weight slump back against the Djinn.

Mahad reached back, trembling fingers tangling in hair and brushing Ryuuji’s jaw to turn him for a kiss. His whisper against Ryuuji’s lips came out brokenly, “Please --”

A loud banging at the door interrupted him.

They both jolted, startled, and Mahad stumbled out of Ryuuji’s grasp. He nearly crumpled, his knees wobbling, but he gripped the back of a chair so hard his knuckles turned white. 

The banging at the door started again. 

“One moment!” Ryuuji called, perfectly composed as if he hadn’t just turned Mahad into a debauched mess. His hot hand petted down Mahad’s back soothingly, lower each stroke.

“Ryuuji!” Mahad tried to hiss, but it came out as a croak when Ryuuji’s mischievous hand gripped salaciously at the flesh of his buttocks. 

“You’re in no state to greet guests,” Ryuuji purred. “I’ll attend to the door.”

Mahad could only glare halfheartedly as Ryuuji’s levitation ceased, his hair settling, his feet touching the door. He sauntered to the door. It creaked open.

From the silhouette looming outside came the glinting flash of metal. 

Mahad gasped, but Ryuuji caught the attacker’s wrist and with the slightest twitch, hurled the man directly into their room. He landed in a loud, disheveled heap, and when Ryuuji snapped his fingers, an unseen force wrenched the man onto his knees and viciously yanked his arms behind his back. The man cried in pain, his face a rictus of agony. 

Mahad could feel Ryuuji’s power, overwhelming and awesome, swell through the air. 

Mahad moved to turn, to completely face the assailant, but when he noticed that evidence of their… activities was staining the front of his robes, he remained in his awkward position and moved and refolded the linen until all was hidden. Cheeks aflame, he finally pivoted. Ryuuji was levitating, hovering parallel to the ground as if he was lounging on thin air, his chin on his knuckles and staring blankly into his prisoner’s pained eyes. 

“I’ll have you know that you interrupted some _very_ important business,” Ryuuji drawled, and Mahad pressed a hand to his burning face. “And since I am not fond of my business being interrupted, I suppose mercy is not at the forefront of my mind,” Ryuuji continued, slender fingers thrumming rhythmically on his elegant jaw. “In other words, tell me what reasons you have for accosting me and my…” he paused, dark eyebrows lifting up. “... companion.”

The man’s face twisted into a snarl, and he spat on Ryuuji’s cheek.

Unimpressed, Ryuuji wiped the saliva away, and his eyes narrowed. The man cried in agony, and Mahad stepped forward, hand raised. But the screaming faded into sniffling whimpers.

“You’d do well not to test me, mortal,” Ryuuji said lowly, and the building vibrated on its foundation at the otherworldly power behind his voice. “You and your companions nearly killed the man I hold most dear, and now I hold your life in my grip.” Mahad could sense it, how Ryuuji’s magic was coiled around the attacker like a giant fist. “It would be no feat to end you where you are now.” The magic tensed threateningly, and the man in its grip yelped. “Tell me what I need to know, or suffer the consequences. Who sent you, worm?”

“The governor!” the man cried, tears trailing down his face. “The governor!”

Mahad and Ryuuji simultaneously froze.

“And he wanted me, did he not?” Ryuuji hissed.

“H-He wanted us to kill your master, and he would have your urn for himself!” The man was sobbing now.

Ryuuji hummed, but his stoic face was wrought with anger beneath. “You are dismissed, scum.” He waved his hand, and the air around the man shimmered like heat, and then he was gone.

“Where did you send him?” Mahad asked after blinking deliriously as the spot where the assailant had been but seconds before.

Ryuuji rolled a shoulder. “The middle of the Arabian desert.”

“Ryuuji!” Mahad gasped, horrified. 

“He clearly had the gall to face a renowned magician of _your_ caliber; What do you think he is capable of doing to those weaker than him? Those who are helpless? I could _smell_ the blood staining his filthy hands,” Ryuuji replied, now vertical and sinking back to the floor. “It was a choking miasma, I assure you.”

Mahad frowned grimly. “I suppose you’re right.”

“At any rate, we now know the identity of the man hunting us. My intuition proved correct -- the state house is a den of snakes,” he spat.

Mahad nodded, grave. “We shall go and confront that scheming governor.” He shifted, and his cheeks immediately set fire to themselves. “I… must make myself presentable first.”

Ryuuji hummed. Those green eyes scanned him up and down slowly, thoroughly. “You seem immaculate to me.”

Mahad scoffed hotly. “I shall _not_ walk amongst the decent public with such a filthy mess clinging to me.”

Mahad barely had to blink before Ryuuji was kneeling before him and slithering up to grasp his clothed thighs and staring at him in such a sultry, predatory manner. “ _I_ can clean you of it,” he breathed, and his pink tongue swiped lewdly over his shapely lips. 

“The _things_ that spill from your tongue,” Mahad gasped, but his voice was deep and breathy. Truly, Ryuuji looked far too appealing, all eager and _hungry_ like this, and he had thought himself a man of stronger constitution, but the hands kneading at his inner thighs were threatening to undo him a second time. It’d been so long that he’d experienced such pleasure, and Ryuuji was offering in spades. 

“Let me taste you,” Ryuuji said, low and seductive. Dark, tender promises of ecstasy lurked in those jewel-like green eyes. “I want every part of you and this is no exception.”

Mahad lowered his shaking hand and threaded it through that dark hair. It slipped and slid between his fingers so fluidly. Ryuuji instantly interpreted that as an invitation and leaned forward to nuzzle below Mahad’s navel. He gasped, eyes snapping back up to Mahad’s face when the hand in his hair tightened and dragged him back gently but firmly.

“The next we experience pleasure, it will be together,” Mahad said, and he tried to be firm but his breath was still catching in his throat. “I’ve never desired more than to be so close to you, in any capacity, but we haven’t the time to do this. We have business to attend to at the state house, and, after what has occurred, we will expedite our plans to return home.” 

Those sensuous lips pursed, and Ryuuji slowly stood, elegant, and his eyes stared deeply into Mahad’s own. “Always so dutiful,” he sighed, but he leaned up, and suddenly he was hovering again, his hair drifting about them, perfectly on level with Mahad. His arms twined around Mahad’s neck, and he pressed their foreheads together. “Though I suppose it _is_ one of the reasons you are so dear to me.”

Mahad brushed his nose across Ryuuji’s own and allowed the Djinn to steal one last kiss before he stepped back from the embrace. 

“Grant me but a moment and we will be off for the state house.”

* * *

It was indeed a short walk to the state house. Several more armed goons accosted them along the way, but Mahad’s and Ryuuji’s combined magical abilities easily kept them at bay. They strode right through the door and into the courtyard. Luckily for them, the governor himself was ambling about that evening, a trail of guests following behind him. 

His head snapped over, and he had the gall to _smirk_. Ryuuji bit down on a snarl, but rage still crackled in his veins. 

“Ah, Priest Mahad, I was concerned. You did not return at the expected time last night. The whole house was in a panic.”

“Governor Ercoles, duplicity does not befit you,” Mahad replied. “Or perhaps it befits you in its entirety.”

“I know not to what you refer, my friend,” Erocoles jibed, and his entourage laughed alongside him. 

“I refer to your underhanded plot to murder me in cold blood to possess he who is not for possession,” Mahad called, stern, staff raised to point at the governor, and Ryuuji could only imagine a righteous god casting judgment on wretched mortals. 

The governor’s face darkened, but then he was smirking again. But Ryuuji could sense it, the malice and greed lurking beneath the affable mask. 

“That’s a hefty accusation to blatantly toss around,” Erocoles replied, chin tipping up, affronted and daring.

“It was said so by one who dared to accost my companion and me as we rested,” Mahad declared, his voice deep and thunderous and echoing in the courtyard. “You wished me dead so Ryuuji would be returned to his prison! In the wake of my demise, you would release him and demand of him three wishes to fulfill whatever dark desires fill the thoughts of a depraved man like you!”

The mask cracked and fell away and revealed the face of the depraved man of which Mahad spoke. He gnashed his teeth like a hyena, hissed like an adder. “It would be a better use of it. I would not keep it as a _pet_ as you do!”

Mahad’s lips curled into a snarl. “ _He_ is no man’s pet, least of all any man’s property!”

“Do you even hear the words coming from your mouth, fool?” Erocoles spat. “Going on and on about this idiocy when the Djinn is _bound_ to you! Do you think such a creature would hang about such a witless mortal of its own volition?!”

Ryuuji could only laugh, but Mahad ignored him.

“Open your eyes, Erocoles. No longer is he bound by his curse; his golden shackles are gone! When your hired goons cut me a mortal wound, I used my last wish to grant Ryuuji his freedom,” Mahad replied. 

Erocoles wildly stared at Ryuuji, scanned his arms, which were bare of any restraints just as Mahad had said. 

Ryuuji spread his arms widely, his golden glow intensifying as he lifted from the ground. His hair and robes billowed about him. 

“It is true. I have been liberated, and while Mahad may no longer be my master, it is he who holds my undying loyalty. You are a vile, greedy man, and even if your schemes had come to pass, every wish that spilled forth from your lips I would twist into your worst nightmare. It is only by Mahad’s benevolence that I do not smite you where you stand, unworthy cur.”

Erocoles’s horrible visage only frothed hotter with rage. “You idiotic magician!” He threw an arm out. “Seize them!” he cried to the guards who had gathered at the commotion.

The guards hesitated, if only for the moment; however, they had to take but a step forward before they were frozen once again.

Ryuuji felt his magic crackle in his veins. It had been so long since he felt his power in its entirety course through him, and he had forgotten the feeling of _invincibility_. At the twitch of his fingers, he could rend them asunder as if they were but puffs of cotton. Instead, they were all thrown back against the walls of the courtyard.

He pointed at that wretched man who trembled in his sandals. Thick, sparking clouds of smoke roiled about him. His eyes glowed an eerie green in the dim of the closing dusk. 

“You shall never know again the pleasure of a lover’s touch, for if your machinations had fruited, I’d never of mine. You shall never indulge in your wealth again, for it was your greed that motivated your murderous intentions. You shall never know the satisfaction of realizing your endeavors, for mine nearly crumbled before my eyes because of you. Nothing you can say, do, or conjure will negate these things. With these words, I curse thee!” he bellowed, and the words boomed like thunder or a volcano erupting. 

Erocoles fell to his knees in the sand of the courtyard, and then he collapsed face-first into the ground. People rushed to him, but Ryuuji was no longer paying attention; he was touching his magician’s arm.

“Let us take our leave of this place,” he begged quietly.

Mahad, eyes wide, had barely nodded before darkness swallowed them.

* * *

Just as quickly, they were washed in moonlight. The ocean hissed and roared as it lapped at the beach sand. A gentle, cool, briny breeze blew and brushed softly against Mahad’s face. He wildly looked about.

Yes, they were now on some unknown beach, where the sand was stained a most breathtaking silver by the moonlight, and where the calm sea glittered and gleamed like onyx. The long, feathery fronds of the palms susurrated so sweetly, like the whispers of a tender lover. It was a nighttime paradise, serene and beautiful.

“Where are we?” Mahad asked, whispering as though his voice would shatter this image and it would fall away into the void.

“A deserted island,” Ryuuji said back, just as quietly, but he stepped close, a blazing aura of warmth in the cool of this seaside night. Mahad shivered at the difference. “I’m sure we are the first men to step upon it in a very long time, if ever.”

Mahad turned his head to look at his companion, and his breath caught in his throat. Ryuuji was always beautiful, but he seemed most resplendent at night, when his glow was not masked by the sun, when he looked like some mirage in the moonlight. Mahad gingerly touched his smooth cheek with his knuckles, as if the Djinn would crumble away to dust with one wrong touch.

“And why here?” Mahad whispered.

Ryuuji smiled softly and gripped that hand in his own, so tender and soft despite his overwhelming power. He nuzzled his cheek into the back of Mahad’s hand and then pressed a soft kiss to it. “We’ll return to Khemet, I promise you. But even there lurks the possibility of interruption.” He sighed, “I want you for myself for one night, and then your king and country can borrow you for a while.”

Mahad smiled softly, and he traced with his eyes the facing that was staring back at him so adoringly. “Borrow me?”

“I won’t let them have you forever,” Ryuuji replied, childishly petulant, but his eyes were molten with affection. 

Mahad’s heart stuttered and melted in his chest, and he gripped the elegant chin between forefinger and thumb. Thoughts and feelings and words swirled within him, and he lowly gave them voice. “All of who I am is yours. Mahad the Magician, Mahad the Priest, Mahad the Man. No matter what I am doing or who I am…” His breath shuddered between them. “... my heart belongs to you, Ryuuji.”

And then Ryuuji’s hands were cupping his cheeks so warmly and slowly bringing them closer, and then his hot lips were upon Mahad and Mahad could only tremble and return the kiss. Softly mouthing, that was all it was, but it felt like _everything_ \-- Ryuuji felt like everything, like the ocean sighing and the stars twinkling and the sands of Khemet blowing in the wind and the lotuses blooming in their ponds. He was the feeling biting into ripe fruit and savoring crisp water on the tongue, and he was the sound of thunder when the rainy season flooded the Nile fat and fertile. He was the scent of pomegranate blossoms and the taste of honey on one’s lips. He was the heat of the sun and the warmth of a gentle touch and the coolness of a summer night. He was the shadows beneath the cypress trees and the glow of a single candle in the dark. 

He was the light that pierced the emptiness of Mahad’s lonely heart.

They parted, but Ryuuji remained close, so close, they tasted each other when they breathed. “Mahad,” he whispered, his voice as raw as his expression, “from the moment you opened that urn I was free.” He brought one of Mahad’s hands to his chest. Mahad could feel it, that heart pounding beneath flesh and bone just like his own. Mahad’s eyes widened. “At your side, I was never a bound, cursed creature.” His words fluttered against Mahad’s lips. “I was blessed. I _am_ blessed.” His fingers tangled into Mahad’s long hair, and his own tresses drifted about them like golden black threads. “I never realized that I made a wish, but it was granted all the same when I met you, my beloved Mahad.”

"I love you," Mahad whispered back, and the waves and the palms whispered with him. 

And they were kissing again, and they were pressed so tight together, holding one another so close, that perhaps if there were no fabric separating them they would have bled together. It was a slow, swaying dance, but a spark was lit, and it smoldered in the kindling until a flame sprang up, licking at their feet and their faces and within their hearts. Empassioned, Mahad wrapped tight one arm about Ryuuji’s slender waist and the other cupped his face and twisted into his hair to grip fervently at those inky black tresses. 

“ _Mahad_ ,” Ryuuji whimpered when Mahad tugged his head back. That jaw, the slender, defined neck, Mahad tasted it all, and he moaned against that smooth skin at the flavor on his tongue. Heady and sensual and _electrifying_ , like ambrosia. Ryuuji had the most _lovely_ clavicles, and Mahad admired them with hot, hungry kisses, his thumb hooking into the neckline of Ryuuji’s clothing to bare more of his marvelous flesh.

Mahad panted, turn his head to press his face to Ryuuji’s neck as his heart pounded and his vision swam and his fingertips trembled. 

“Never had I felt such yearning as I do for you,” he whispered hoarsely.

“Yearn no longer,” Ryuuji murmured, just as breathless, and suddenly they were falling back, and where Mahad had been expecting them to land onto the beach sand, instead laid a soft blanket. 

But looking up, there was still the starry night sky and the brilliant silver moon and Ryuuji’s vivid green eyes. 

A soft smile was on his swollen lips, his hands braced next to Mahad’s head, until he sat back, kneeling between Mahad’s knees, and Mahad sat up, too, leaning on his elbows. Ryuuji’s red robes began to sag down, drawing down his shoulders of seemingly their own volition, sashes untying and material parting to reveal golden skin and tones muscles. The material slipped down, down, pooling at his trim waist a moment before it continued, sliding and slithering away from bunched thighs and slim hips, until Ryuuji was bare before him. 

All smooth and glossy and glowing, black hair poured over that beautiful flesh like a waterfall. There, with those verdant eyes, greener than any emerald, it was more than obvious that Ryuuji was closer to god than man. And his divine hand, slender and beautiful but still masculine and long, was gripping Mahad’s and guiding it to the aureate skin of his muscled chest and flattening it there. Ryuuji was warm and firm, sensual, a more stirring sight and sensation than Mahad had even ever conjured in his most erotic dreams. 

“Yearn no longer,” Ryuuji repeated, voice husky and just as dark as his eyes. 

Those beautiful black lashes of his fluttered down, hiding that green from view, as Mahad’s trembling hand slid down, along the firm pectoral and gently-defined abdominals, because Ryuuji was lean but strong, like a leopard. The heat of Ryuuji’s body bled into his palm and fingers as they traced, spread wide but soft. And then he was pushing his hand back up, a slightly different path, cupping and moulding against each part of Ryuuji he touched. Dipping and curling over that alluring collarbone, over the swell of a shoulder that fit just so perfectly under the curve of his palm. 

His other hand tentatively touched one of the knees between his own, and when he glanced at Ryuuji’s face, half-lidded green eyes stared back. Heat spiked through his gut, and, lips trembling, he touched higher, palm dragging along that firm thigh. Muscles and tendons tensed, anticipating, beneath his fingers, until he was cupping one hip. The bone fit perfectly in his grip. 

Yes, he could agree. Their bodies were made for touching each other. 

His other hand slipped down Ryuuji’s chest again to slide around and caress up his spine, under that silky hair to the back of his neck, and Ryuuji leaned in. But Mahad’s lips touched his chin again, down, under it, Ryuuji’s head tipping back as Mahad kissed down his neck. Ryuuji’s panting breaths were just loud enough to be heard over the hissing of the ocean as Mahad mouthed the length of his sternum. He moaned, deep but airy, when Mahad’s tongue caressed his nipple. 

Mahad could only breath hotly against his skin, could only relish the feel of Ryuuji beneath his hands, lips, and tongue. He closed his eyes and sucked gently, and Ryuuji arched, a strained sound pulled from his throat. Mahad’s veins throbbed, his whole body trembled. Hands were in Mahad’s hair, threading and tangling gently, and then one was on his shoulder, pushing him back onto the blanket, Ryuuji following.

Ryuuji’s hair dripped down, sliding over his shoulders and from around his face. Darker than night, the locks swayed in the oceanic breeze. That sight above him… Mahad was mesmerized. Ryuuji rubbed sensually up and down Mahad’s chest, and Mahad’s breathing picked up from the sensation alone. “As much as I would love to dirty this particular piece of clothing for a third time…” Ryuuji began, voice seductive and cheeks flushed with desire, “I am going to disrobe you.”

Mahad nodded, touching Ryuuji’s cheek. “Please do.”

“I could simply magic your clothes right from your body,” Ryuuji murmured, sitting back just the slightest to undo the sash keeping Mahad’s robes to his body, “... but it is a long-held fantasy of mine to slowly peel them away from you.”

“And mine yours, though you denied me the pleasure,” Mahad croaked back, watching those hands delicately smooth the sash away from his body. 

“Next time,” Ryuuji breathed, unraveling the linen folded around Mahad’s form. “Next time, you may strip me at your leisure, my beloved.”

It took but a flash of Mahad’s bare chest for Ryuuji to touch him directly. He pushed his hands outward, toward the ribs, linen wrinkling and folding over his wrists. The slow petting had Mahad arching where he lay, hands falling to grip at the blanket beneath them. 

“You like being touched,” Ryuuji noted, nearly a moan. “And I adore touching you. What a pair we make.” It wasn’t long before Mahad’s linen robes were splayed about at his sides, baring him to the chill of the oceanic night. But Ryuuji was a warm aura above him, washing him in heat, making his cheeks hot and his breaths hotter. “I can tell how long you had denied yourself the touch of another, my dearest,” Ryuuji whispered, one finger trailing along Mahad’s inner thigh and watching it tremble beneath the touch.

“I had not the time for pleasure,” Mahad groaned. His hips bucked that finger traced along the edges of his thin undergarments, simple ones folded about his groin, a choice of comfort. 

“Oh, you did,” Ryuuji purred. “I am not blind, nor am I an idiot. There were plenty of moments for you to rut, hot and fast like an animal with all those willing people around you.” He leaned down, a smirk on his lips but tender affection in his eyes. “I am not the only one who has taken notice of you, Mahad.” Mahad shivered when Ryuuji kissed his chin, when that hair slithered over him and set his nerves alight. “But still you starved yourself,” he whispered, hot, kissing down Mahad’s neck. “Because simple rutting would not, _could not_ sate you, could it?” His heat was everywhere, his hands sliding and caressing and melting Mahad wherever they touched, his lips tender but _ravenous_ as they mouthed down his heaving chest to his abdomen. 

“It was never a desire of yours to simply _orgasm_ ,” Ryuuji continued, tongue flicking momentarily against the hot skin of Mahad’s navel, his hands kneading at the thighs flexing around him. “It is _intimacy_ you have always yearned for.” He nibbled at the edge of Mahad’s loincloth, first with his swollen lips and then with his pearly teeth. “When you bring yourself to completion, it’s to thoughts of your lover’s hand entwined with yours as you climax, isn’t it?”

Mahad gasped hotly, delirious eyes taking in the night and the Djinn between his eyes, where golden skin was so close to his own and black hair was spilling so alluringly over his sensitive thighs. “Yes,” he choked out. “Yes, Ryuuji.” It was all true, how he wished to share his _soul_ with his partner and not just his body. How he wished to hold close a lover and stare into eyes that were _staring back_ , kisses that threatened to consume and desire that ran so much deeper than flesh and blood. 

And here Ryuuji was, granting him a fourth wish. 

And those clever fingers were twisting into the linen and gently pulling it away until Mahad was just as naked as Ryuuji on this deserted beach. 

They both shivered, and Ryuuji’s hands smoothed along thighs and hips and waist. “You are a vision, my dearest one.” Those eyes were hot and liquid and they painted Mahad with desire. "An oasis, a mirage." He crawled back up, swaying shoulders like a predatory cat, looking as exotic as one there in the moonlight. His lips hovered, warm and damp over Mahad's own, and Mahad reached up to cup that beautiful face and kissed his lips. Ryuuji pressed back, all slow and tender and consuming, and he whispered, broken and raw, "I want to taste you. Please, I beg of you, do not deny me this request a second time."

"T-Take of me what you want," Mahad breathed back, "if I can the same of you."

"You've made yourself a deal, Mahad," Ryuuji purred, and he was sinking back down, sliding skin and hair and the occasional fluttering of lips. Mahad breathed tightly, stared up momentarily at the night sky before his fingers tangled in abyssal black silk. 

And then Ryuuji's breath fanned where Mahad was most sensitive, and then it was his lips, his _tongue,_ and Mahad choked, thighs shaking beneath golden, kneading hands. Mahad watched that pink tongue, watched those green eyes flutter shut as if in ecstasy before they were open but half-lidded and searing into his very soul. Then shapely lips parted, and Ryuuji was consuming him. Slow, as if Mahad were something to be _savored,_ like fine wine or raw honey. 

Mahad couldn't help his cry, his broken sob of pleasure, as Ryuuji worshiped him so intently, so… _so_ …

" _Ryuuji_ ," he gasped, voice thick and choppy with heaving breaths. Ryuuji's hands squeezed affectionately, eyes blinked slowly as he took all of Mahad in and retracted all of him out, this steady, intense rhythm, like the waves crashing on the shore so near them. Mahad's fast breaths parched his lips, but he could only stare down at the man so attentive between his thighs, could only knead his shaking fingers through that silky hair. 

Everything in him was shuddering and sweltering. The sweat on his body gleamed in the moonlight and in Ryuuji's resplendent glow. Those divine hands tugged at his hips, clutched at buttocks, lifted him to those stretched lips, and Mahad whimpered, rolling his hips as Ryuuji obviously wanted. 

It was heartrendingly intimate, the slow pace, the way Ryuuji never once wavered from his eyes, how he held Mahad close, his hair sliding across Mahad's skin with each bob of his head. 

And Ryuuji was pulling off to lap at him with that wet tongue again, and Mahad wanted to cry with relief and with protest. 

"I want to drink you dry," Ryuuji rasped wetly, lips pressed still to Mahad's flesh, "but we'll save that for another time."

And he was crawling back up, but Mahad grabbed his shoulder and the back of his neck to whirl them, to press Ryuuji to the blanket and taste himself on those honey-sweet lips. 

They both gasped, arching, where they were pressed together wet and hot, eager and desirous. 

Mahad took the time to sample the delights of Ryuuji's body, though each kiss and lick was feverish and fervent. "Surely," he moaned, swiping his tongue once again on Ryuuji's nipple, "this is a dream." He pressed his cheek to the heaving abdominals, breathed in the heat of Ryuuji's skin. "Surely, for how could I capture the heart of a creature so divine?" He murmured, sinking lower, where Ryuuji's thighs eagerly parted for him. 

Ryuuji's hands petted his face and stroked through his hair. "I think much the same," he replied, strained. 

Mahad moaned softly, pressed his lips to Ryuuji's swollen flesh, kissed him as thoroughly as he had been kissed. Throaty and lustful, his own name rang in his ears. Mahad panted and lapped. The taste was heady and dizzying and arousing. He eagerly took Ryuuji in, savored that first bit and sucked thoroughly. He looked up as Ryuuji cried with pleasure and fisted the hair in his hands. 

Lips parted, eyes wet with pleasure, brows furrowed with ecstasy. 

He took more, more, heavy and hot on his writhing tongue. Ryuuji mewled, body tensing and arching. He continued that slow pace Ryuuji had set just moments before. Mahad’s eyes fluttered closed as arousal washed up on his insides. 

"L-Look at me," Ryuuji gasped, and Mahad could only obey. 

Thumbs traced under his eyes and over his cheekbones, and he gulped greedily at the flesh in his mouth. Ryuuji's lips stretched wider on another gut-wrenchingly wanton cry, " _Yes!_ "

Mahad's stomach quivered, and he lowered a hand to stoke the sizzling arousal in his gut. 

"No," Ryuuji reprimanded, mewling, pulling Mahad off of him. 

Mahad dangled there, lips aching and swollen, but he obediently removed his hand from himself.

"When we come, we shall do it as one," Ryuuji panted, pupils blown wide.

They were both sitting up now, breathless and gleaming in the moonlight. Ryuuji leaned forward, and they kissed slowly. Ryuuji's hand traveled down from Mahad's hair, along his spine, then further, where his fingers slid so sensuous, teasing and seductive, parting and tracing.

"I want to pleasure you… here," he whispered, rubbing gently, solicitously. 

"I--" Mahad shuddered, but he shook his head the slightest. “You need not put forth the exertion --”

Fingers firm at his chin cut him off, and Ryuuji’s eyes glittered. “You silly man,” he purred. “It is not a chore, and you needn’t take every responsibility onto your shoulders.” He chuckled, smile sultry and fond. “Would you think it so toilsome to do the same for me?”

“No,” Mahad breathed.

“Then fret not.” The words were a warm breeze against Mahad’s lips. “Unless you truly do not desire it,” Ryuuji added, one black eyebrow arching. 

“I want it,” Mahad assured. “I want you inside me, Ryuuji.”

Ryuuji grunted, nearly mewled, “Those words on your lips -- if I did not know any better, I might have thought that I had died and ascended to paradise.” He nudged at Mahad’s shoulder. “Lay back for me, Mahad.”

Heart pounding, fluttering like a trapped bird, Mahad did as was asked of him. Ryuuji settled between his parted knees, and when those golden fingers touched his thighs, Mahad felt them tremble. The blanket beneath them felt soft beneath Mahad’s eagerly clenching hands, and he arched up, huffing softly, when he felted oiled fingers -- magicked that way, he had no doubt -- trace along him. 

“Mm,” he grunted, feeling one, gentle, press in. 

“By the sands of Arabia,” Ryuuji murmured, tongue swiping across his lips, and then he was leaning down for a kiss. Mahad panted against his lips, draped an arm over his shoulder. The scent of the oil, olives and lavender, blossomed between them. A second finger was swift to join the first. 

Mahad’s head thrashed to the side. It was uncomfortable, but it was _good_ , the way Ryuuji’s slender fingers worked into and against him, so tender but so intense. Hot kisses trailed down his neck, the flick of a tongue at his collarbone. 

“Mahad.” The whisper was fervent, like a curse or a prayer, and the ocean echoed it. “Oh, Mahad.”

Three, and Mahad keened lowly through clenched teeth, thighs gripping at Ryuuji, who was swift to press a hand to his knee and pin his legs open again. 

“We will get there, my beloved,” Ryuuji moaned, touching all the right places and making Mahad’s vision swim, but Mahad held him close, pressed his face to his temple as it built, as his whole body bucked and shook. “Just a little longer.”

“Ry-Ryuuji,” he groaned, long and low. “ _Please_ , my love. I _ache,”_ he gasped into his lover’s ear, “I _ache_ for you.”

“You’ll have me.” And he pulled back, Mahad’s arm falling from his shoulders, and his hand retreated and Mahad stared into those mesmerizing green eyes as Ryuuji touched himself, and then they were adjusting, aligning, and then Ryuuji was _inside_ him, hot and slick and tight, and Mahad’s mouth fell open. One hand clawed at the blanket above his head, the other dropped to clutch Ryuuji’s firm glute to press him _deeper_. 

“Yes, I want you,” Mahad gasped, voice impassioned and lewd. “I want _all_ of you.”

Ryuuji panted, one hand on Mahad’s hip and the other propping himself up. His elbow wobbled dangerously, and he feared it would give out on him. Mahad gave him no pause, no reprieve as he drew him the closest they’d ever been. 

Mahad was something that not even his most vivid dreams could manufacture, spread out before him, _around_ him, hot and _wanting_. Head thrown back but eyes cracked to deliriously watch his every move. All of his muscles straining beautifully beneath his skin. His hair a disheveled halo about his head. 

“Mahad,” Ryuuji whimpered, and, so, _so_ very _aroused_ , couldn’t control how his hips stuttered a moment, and the hand on his ass tightened and Mahad moaned. 

And then they were rocking together, fluid, intense, slow, and Ryuuji’s hair trailed across Mahad’s flushed skin with each thrust. 

“Yes, yes, _yes, yes_ ,” someone was keening, but neither was sure who. They only knew that the other was outlined with night and that the pleasure was enough to burn them even in the cool sea breeze. Mahad was bucking and tugging at Ryuuji; Ryuuji was rolling into him, like the sea crashing against the shore or the moon pulling the tides. Ryuuji’s head kicked back, and he groaned, rippling, lost for that moment, before a strong on his ribs pulled him down and lips were on his, and it mattered even less who was moaning what when they were sharing all the tender sounds between them. 

They were pressed so completely together, their edges blurred, and somewhere they had grabbed one another’s hand and they were entwined and grasping tightly just like the rest of their body. The pace built, like waves frothing in a coming storm, until they were in a frenzy, mewling and gasping and groaning, so hungry for each other but never getting enough, _enough_ , never enough, more, more _more_. Passion unleashed, burning over dry brush and leaving nothing behind but ashes, ashes that would nourish and allow it all to grow anew. One set of hands was so tightly clenched together, but the other for each was roaming their writhing, gleaming lover.

Names were garbled but heard all the same, cried to the ocean and the stars and the moon.

They’d ended up with Mahad practically bent in half, legs slung over Ryuuji’s arms, his weight resting on Ryuuji’s quivering, heaving thighs and on his own shoulders planted firmly against the blanket. They were crying, physically and emotionally overwhelmed, but it was so _sweet_ , so _good_ , the heat that was building and making them quake until they thought that they would be shaking like this forever. 

Ryuuji’s hand clenched around Mahad’s, those green eyes -- the ones that haunted his thoughts awake and asleep alike -- stared _into_ him, delving through his heart and his soul. Ryuuji’s gaze was so intense it was difficult to meet, but Mahad did anyway, cried that name as the tension broke and washed over him white and hot and gold and _green_.

Ryuuji was glowing brighter, _burning_ , his hips pumping wildly, with wanton abandon, and his shout of Mahad’s name seemed to make even the sky rumble. 

The pleasure was intense, made them mewl as they writhed against one another as if they were on fire. Soon they were panting and trembling in the aftermath, hands weak but still gripping. 

And they slumped together, sweaty and exhausted and _satisfied_ , for now, at least, while their hearts and breaths slowed. There they were, on a beach far from any other sentient being, under the light of the stars and the moon as the waves and palms serenaded them, but they could only see each other, the breathless, tender smiles, could only hear each other, the fading gasps and moaning sighs.

Ryuuji raised their entwine hands -- rather unsteadily, they both noted with airy chuckles -- and brushed a searing kiss to Mahad’s knuckles. 

“I don’t yet want to return you to Khemet,” Ryuuji said, hoarse and hitching. 

“Then don’t,” Mahad rasped. “We have till dawn, my love.” He chuckled, eyes falling closed. “And there is no rule that says we cannot do this there, too.”

Ryuuji pouted. “But here, you are all mine, and no one else’s. There, you have duties to attend to and expectations to meet.”

Mahad scoffed. “I doubt any of that will stop you from molesting me as I try to work.”

“My dear, I don’t believe it’s defined as ‘molestation’ if it’s consensual.”

Mahad opened his eyes just to roll them.

“You shouldn’t bother with denying it,” Ryuuji continued smugly. “I can already tell that I am irresistible to you.”

“Hmph, as if you are not the same way with me. I have a feeling that if I so much as _suggested_ that I wanted you to please me with your mouth all day and night, you would do it without question.”

“Now _that_ is a very good idea, one I plan to implement in the near future,” Ryuuji purred, nuzzling Mahad’s cheek. “I could spend eternity with my mouth on you.”

Mahad swatted him -- rather ineffectively, with how languid and warm he was. “You lewd creature.”

“ _You_ brought the subject to hand, magician!”

But Mahad only hummed and pressed their foreheads together. Conversation faded, and they basked.

And all that could be heard was the whispering of the sea and the hiss of wind in the palms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping to have the third part done within the next couple of weeks. I just wanted to get this all prepped so that I wasn't posting all 3 parts at once. 
> 
> Until then <3


	3. Here I Shall Stay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn’t leave these two alone. So here is the unprompted third part of the Principleshipping Saga. This is mostly smut and fluff. No lie.

It was in the blazing light of a Khemetic morning that they ascended the steps of the palace. Just a handful of minutes ago they had appeared at the gates -- at the gates, for Ryuuji wanted just that handful more of Mahad’s time before he crossed the threshold and resumed his duties as high priest. 

He stepped fluidly along the sandstone staircase -- no levitating, to avoid making a spectacle and eating up Mahad’s attention and time on those who gave them their attention and time -- and gazed appreciatively at Mahad’s confident gait. Though… he seemed to be favoring one side.

Hm, some discomfort was probably expected after a night such as theirs. Magic and heat thrummed beneath Ryuuji’s skin at the thought. 

Mahad slanted him a knowing and stern sideways glance. 

“Ah, I was simply thinking that I could take care of that… limp you seem to have developed, if you would like me to,” he said, sweet and purring, then simpering and chuckling as red bloomed on Mahad’s cheeks. 

“I will be quite all right,” Mahad muttered back.

Ryuuji cooed. Mahad was so  _ precious _ when he was flustered. The coo warped into a lecherous smirk. “You may as well get used to accepting my assistance -- I plan to have you limping more times than not, my dear.”

And that summoned a  _ squawk _ , and Mahad swatted his arm. “ _ Ryuuji! _ ”

“Oh, like you weren’t whispering the filthiest things last night,” Ryuuji replied, flippant, nudging Mahad gently with his elbow. 

_ “Ryuuji _ ! We are on the steps of the palace, in  _ public _ ! Keep that serpent’s tongue to yourself!” Mahad spat, face now blazing, perhaps even hotter than the sun beating down on their backs.

Ryuuji’s chuckle hummed in his chest. “I certainly didn’t keep my  _ serpent’s tongue _ to myself last night, much to your  _ pleasure _ .”

Mahad stopped, one foot on one step and the other on the step below it, to turn and glare at the djinn. “You are an incorrigible  _ fiend _ .”

A slick leer, and he leaned in just slightly. “And you  _ love it _ .”

Mahad only huffed and continued his ascent. Ryuuji laughed, heartily, from deep in his stomach, and followed after. 

At the top, Priest Seth was awaiting their arrival. His arms were crossed, his face stern. “You are back much sooner than planned, Priest Mahad.”

Mahad waved his hand, one eyebrow arched. “An assassination plot often expedites plans away from foreign countries.”

Blue eyes widened. “ _ Assassination? You?!” _

“Governor Erocoles coveted himself a magical amphora,” Mahad replied. “I would’ve met my end if it weren’t for Ryuuji.” He gave the gentlest touch, a brush of fingertips along Ryuuji’s arm, where golden shackles used to bind him. 

“You used a wish for him to heal you?” Priest Seth asked, blinking widely, still processing this information.

“No.” Mahad shook his head, a small smile on his face. “I wished for Ryuuji’s freedom. He healed me of his own volition.” 

“You…” Those eyes were wide as plates. They darted down to Ryuuji’s bare wrists. “... You  _ freed _ him? A djinn?  _ Malevolent spirit _ ?”

Ryuuji scoffed. “We are only  _ malevolent _ when contained, and only then if our masters are unpleasant barbarians. For the two years that you have known me, have I shown the least bit interest in malevolent behavior?”

“In the beginning,  _ most definitely _ !” Seth’s voice was nearly a squawk in his indignance. 

Ryuuji crossed his arms, rolled his eyes. “Well, I assure you, it’s not a problem now. If I wished to do away with you, or anyone here, I could have leveled this palace the moment I was free.” Though that was a lie, Ryuuji had no intention of telling Seth that now.

“Your intentions  _ now _ are not the problem -- your fickle sentiments are! Just because you didn’t then and don’t now does not mean that you  _ will not _ in the future!” he spat. 

Mahad’s hand curled hard around his wrist, and Ryuuji noticed that he was hovering inches off the stairs, eye-to-eye with the indignant priest. Black locks floated around them. He breathed out deeply. “He freed me -- there is no changing that. You have neither the power nor the means to seal me away, nor to stop me if I so desired to end the lives of all here. That being such, whether I am  _ here _ or elsewhere, you would be facing the same dilemma, and it would do you well not to fret about things over which you have no control, priest.”

Mahad’s tight inhale caught his attention, and he looked over to see the concern in those eyes.

“Any worrying is all for naught -- I do not wish any harm upon the people that Mahad holds so dear, and, even if I did, I cannot go back against a wish, even if it was granted while I was imprisoned.”

“What wish?” Seth asked. “You used your wishes, Mahad? I thought you hadn’t used a single one.”

“I used all three,” Mahad said quietly. But his posture was strong, his chin lifted.

Ryuuji smiled, twisted his hand to twine their fingers together. Yes, Mahad had  _ nothing _ to be ashamed of; his wishes were the most noble that Ryuuji had ever heard of, much less ever granted. Noble, strong, majestic, powerful, and kind. Before, Ryuuji had doubted that perfection ever existed, but he’d seen it in Mahad when he had made his wishes, saw it in him when he’d stared at Ryuuji when he awakened from his sleep, saw it in him when he’d gasped Ryuuji’s name as they made love.

"All  _ three _ ?!" Seth looked beyond dumbfounded, and Ryuuji didn't bother hiding his grin. "You dare make deals with a snake?"

"Now, I believe  _ that  _ is none of you business, Seth," Mahad sighed. "Please, can I come in and brief our majesty, the Pharaoh? I'm sure he's becoming impatient." Seth's lips parted, and Mahad held up a hand. "I know your harsh words come from a place of affection and concern for my well-being, but please trust in me, and trust in my decision in companions." Seth sputtered and Mahad chuckled, "There's no point in denying it, Seth. I know it's your way of expressing yourself, and I am touched by your concern.  _ Please _ , let us continue on with our daily duties?"

Seth glared -- and dare Mahad say,  _ pouted _ \-- but stepped aside with crossed arms. 

"Thank you," Mahad said, and they continued on their way through the courtyard. 

"Maybe some unfortunate minor mishaps will befall Priest Seth in the coming days," Ryuuji whispered cryptically.

"You will do nothing to that man," Mahad hushed, but Ryuuji snickered at the faint curl in his lover's lips. 

"You didn't deny it when he called me a snake," Ryuuji huffed, melodramatic, pursing his lips.

"That's because you are one." Mahad gently squeezed Ryuuji's hand. "You just threatened to harass Seth from afar for an indeterminate amount of time." He hummed -- a muffled chuckle. "You are lucky I find it mildly amusing." 

" _ Mildly _ ," Ryuuji scoffed. 

"Mildly."

"... Deceitful. You adore it."

"Yes, I adore that I find it mildly amusing, that much is true." 

" _ You  _ are the snake, Mahad. You are lucky I find it mildly arousing when you bare your fangs."

" _ Mildly _ ," Mahad scoffed.

"Mm, you are entirely correct -- it drives me mad with desire," Ryuuji purred. 

"Now, behave," Mahad whispered. "We are about to have council with the Pharaoh."

And they walked into the throne room. 

Atem, in all his high court finery, immediately stood from his throne. "Priest Mahad, Ryuuji, it is good to have you back so soon!" 

They both bowed respectfully. Ryuuji would scarcely be for any mortal, but Atem was worthy of respect -- and not just because of Mahad's respect for him. Ryuuji admired Atem in his own right. Atem was a noble and fair king, and Ryuuji doubted he would ever see more worthy a ruler in the rest of his very long lifetime. Nor would he meet one who was so hospitable to him -- other than Mahad, of course.

"It is good to be home, Your Divinity," Mahad replied.

"Though I rejoice at our reunion, I must, as your Pharaoh, question why you have returned to us so soon. Did something go awry on your visit to our allies?" Atem asked, striding toward them, his brightly-dyed linen clothing flowing about him. 

"I fear so, Your Divinity," Mahad replied, following just a step behind Atem's shoulder as the king led them out to a lush garden. A scribe and several advisors followed behind them. "Governor Erocoles ordered his men a most dastardly assignment -- my assassination."

Atem's kind face immediately hardened to an expression of anger and deep concern. "I'd ask if you were all right, but your presence, healthy and strong as ever, is answer enough." He shook his head slowly. "From the first time I met that man, I knew Erocoles had a heart that knew only greed, but I never imagined that he might attempt to harm you, or I would have sent another in your place. I can already guess what he had been after, and I can see that he failed in his mission to obtain Ryuuji,” Atem said lowly. “However, no matter how well the circumstances turned out, I apologize deeply for any inconvenience or pain this trip may have caused you.”

“Your Divinity, there is no need for apologies,” Mahad replied, gentle, kind, reassuring. “Our experiences there were fated to be. I cannot lie; I was mortally injured by one of his henchmen, but with my last wish, I set Ryuuji free.” A gentle, loving smile settled on Mahad’s lips, and his eyes, warmed to their deepest depths with affection, turned to Ryuuji. “He healed me with his magic, and we sought justice shortly after.”

Ryuuji restrained a sultry chuckle at the omission in Mahad’s story, and smiled back at his lover, and gently brushed Mahad’s cheek with the back of his hand. “I could not leave you there to die, my dear.”

Atem was smiling privately at the display of intimacy before he settled back into kingly stoicism. “Justice?”

“Ah, three curses for the three wishes he would have received had he managed to murder Mahad,” Ryuuji replied. “Worry not -- nothing deadly, just enough to make him absolutely miserable for the rest of his life.”

Atem chuckled darkly -- Ryuuji liked this man even more for his harsh, vindictive side, befitting even a Djinn. “Excellent.” He continued strolling on his way, breathing deeply to enjoy the blossoms wreathing the garden. “I suppose that cuts off our diplomatic ties with that city-state.”

“We could still try to forge new ones with Erocoles’ replacement. That is, if there will be one,” Mahad commented. 

Atem hummed. "We shall see. If there is no replacement, we will cut our losses. If there is, we shall see what sort of temperament said replacement has." He drummed his fingers against the knuckles on the other hand. His rings glimmered in the morning sunlight. "I doubt the replacement will be an improvement. Greedy tyrants oft follow one another in a procession. It is difficult to break the cycle." A deep breath. "And when the cycle is not broken, each tyrant slowly drives a nation into the dirt." A thoughtful head tilt. "It has happened in our history many times, too."

"But we have you, now," Mahad replied. "Not all hope is lost for them."

Atem chuckled, low and knowing. He gave them a sly sideways glance. "I believe that I played only a small part in our recent prosperity." A smile hid beneath the twitch of his lips. "There were much greater forces than I involved."

Perceptive. Ryuuji looked to Mahad, who was staring off at some distant plant. "No. Such a thing would not have happened without our people's great devotion to you, and our great devotion to each other."

Atem smiled again, more fully, and he truly shined with the brilliance of the sun with such an expression. 

"Sometimes, the devotion of one man is enough to turn the tides."

* * *

"The more I speak to your Pharaoh, the more I like him," Ryuuji said, striding shoulder-to-shoulder with his former master. "And the more I understand you, and what you gave up your wishes to achieve."

"I gave up nothing," Mahad whispered. 

"You gave up everything, Mahad," Ryuuji murmured gently in reply. "You gave up all the riches and power in the world. Every single one of your wishes you used for the benefit of others."

Mahad shook his head. “All the riches and all the power -- they never belonged to me, and they were never mine to have.”

“Oh, Mahad, my dear,” Ryuuji cooed, “You are truly a gem. I have never met a human like you, and I doubt I will ever meet another, either.”

Mahad blushed, but said nothing on the matter. 

Ryuuji purred a chuckle and affectionately brushed his knuckles down Mahad’s arm before he once again focused on the hall ahead of them. “What are the plans for today?”

A hum resonated in Mahad’s chest. “Well, there were no specific plans -- none that we have not already completed. After all, we returned much earlier than planned. I suppose I shall bathe, attend to the palace shrines, and then review whatever paperwork and artifacts have been left for me in my laboratory.”

A simpering smile curled Ryuuji’s lips. “Would you like me to accompany you? I find myself particularly interested in the first item of your list.”

Mahad lips parted, about to happily agree, but then he paused as the meaning struck him, and he blushed furiously, aghast. “ _ Ryuuji _ , bathing before my sacred duties is not -- is not --  _ not _ a time for fun and games! I must be  _ clean _ when I present myself before the gods in such a manner.”

“I promise you will be clean… when we are finished. In the meantime, I can…” He leaned in and nipped at Mahad’s burning red ear. “... make you as dirty as I like.” Mahad gasped, but Ryuuji kept going. “Besides, I am sure the way  _ I  _ would present you would more than please the divines. A sacrifice of carnal pleasure like ours would sate them until the flood season.”

Mahad finally hissed and pushed Ryuuji’s face away with a hot, shaking hand.

Ryuuji laughed. “Oh, you cannot fool me, my dearest. I  _ know _ you have had fantasies of making mad, passionate love against one of the shrines, of clutching at a divine statue while I pleasure you until your beautiful mind is blank.” He purred, touched Mahad’s arm again. “I have, too.”

“L-Let me be, demon,” Mahad tried to hiss, but it came out as a broken whimper.

* * *

Ryuuji left him alone for his sacred cleansing, and for those agonizing hours that Mahad attended the shrine. The sweet heat of the frenzy of new lovers still hovered -- he wanted to keep Mahad locked away in some private chambers for  _ weeks _ . Maybe longer, if Mahad would let him. Ryuuji tried to pass the time away, drifting through the gardens, visiting the buds and making them bloom into thick, healthy flowers with but a brush of his finger. 

The palace maids were ecstatic to see him back, but getting them to titter and fawn over him wasn’t as fun when Mahad wasn’t around to potentially get jealous.

But he did relish in the privacy, in the freedom. The past two years were spent metaphysically tied to Mahad’s side and -- as wonderful as those two years were -- it was nice to be able to drift where he wanted, when he wanted, to be able to admire the lotuses blooming on the ponds at his own pace. He could sit as long as he wanted on the granite bench and soak up the blazing hot sun and not move a muscle for as long as he wanted. 

Mahad tried his best to give Ryuuji chances to go out and enjoy his surroundings, but Mahad was always a busy man who simply did not have the time to stay and enjoy the scent of the blooms for too long. 

Ryuuji smiled, cupped a flower and brought it to his nose. But maybe Ryuuji could change that now -- maybe he could convince Mahad to slow down, to indulge in the world around him, especially after the near-death experience in Greece. Ryuuji closed his eyes, let the flower fall away on the gust of his sigh.

That was the most fear he had felt in a long time -- that Mahad would die, right there in Ryuuji's helpless arms.

A creature of infinite cosmic power, unable to help his master, his dearest friend, the man he loved more than anything else in the universe. 

He passed a hand, and all of the remaining buds bloomed, leaves plumped, and stems perked. The garden, already beautiful, became the epitome of a lush paradise. With but a flick of his wrist, he could fill plants with life. 

And with a twitch of his finger, he could have sent this garden to oblivion. 

His eyes darkened, the air around him shimmered, sparked with energy. 

He’d never let  _ anything _ threaten Mahad  _ ever _ again.

* * *

He was waiting for him when Mahad came through the entrance to his study and laboratory. He leaned against the edge of the stone work table, turned his head to watch Mahad come through. 

Mahad smiled at him, small and happy, and Ryuuji couldn’t stop himself from returning it even if he wanted to. “I hope you did not cause too much trouble while I was gone,” Mahad said, quiet and fond.

“Who? Me?” Ryuuji gestured to himself languidly and then shook his head. “Never.”

Mahad laugh, low, and he leaned in when Ryuuji moved to give him a chaste kiss. “It was… odd today, I will admit,” he said against Ryuuji’s lips before pulling away to begin to sort through the documents and artifacts left for him over their trip to Greece. “Not having you by my side the entire time was strange,” Mahad elucidated before he paused again to read a missive. “It has been a while since I have worked alone,” he said, and he lifted his eyes to smile fondly at Ryuuji.

Ryuuji pursed his lips playfully. “And I had the audacity to miss you, Priest,” he drawled. 

Mahad shook his head, his hair swaying gently. He stepped around to grasp Ryuuji’s chin. 

Ryuuji shivered happily, leaned into the touch. Mahad smelled like incense and the ceremonial oils, and his breath tinged faintly with wine. He pressed a chaste kiss to Ryuuji’s lips, and Ryuuji hummed with contentment.

“Of course I missed you,” Mahad murmured. “But I have to admit, some solitude was welcomed.”

Ryuuji tilted his head to gently brush their noses together. “I agree. I cannot remember the last time I experienced solitude outside of that damn urn.” The solitude within it was maddening -- unending coldless black. He chuckled against Mahad’s lips. “In all honesty, I was not sure what to do with myself.”

“Perhaps you should take up a hobby,” Mahad replied, and his hands were on Ryuuji’s arms, gently stroking up and down with his palms. “Though I am sure you can magic whatever you want into your possession, sometimes doing something with your own two hands can be so fulfilling.”

“Oh, I know how fulfilling my hands can be,” Ryuuji huffed back, his bated arousal surging forth even with Mahad’s innocent touches. 

“You are so lascivious,” Mahad bit back, heat blooming on his cheeks with such force that Ryuuji could  _ feel _ his warmth. 

Ryuuji purred in response, advancing onto his magician, pressing him back into the stone worktable. “I simply cannot help myself, Mahad,” he whispered, lust thrumming through him as he felt every edge of Mahad’s body. He pressed his hands to Mahad’s chest, where, under his robe, he was warm and firm, then down, to his waist, to his narrow hips. Ryuuji arched, flicked his tongue out to tease Mahad’s jaw. “How I thirst for you, Mahad.”

Mahad was trembling, shuddering, but so  _ aroused _ , it made Ryuuji growl low in his throat. But still, Mahad’s shaking hands were trying to gently nudge Ryuuji off. “I-I have work to do!” he gasped.

A hum resonated between them, on the flesh of Mahad’s neck. “You have been working since we arrived.” He licked a wet stripe up Mahad’s throat. “You ought to take a break.” His hand slithered between them, groped Mahad where he was plumping with torrid desire. Mahad  _ whimpered _ , and Ryuuji found himself undulating gently, humping against where his hand was rubbing and pumping Mahad gently through his clothes. “I can help you relax a little,” he murmured. 

Mahad managed to rip himself away, and he stumbled around to the other side of the table. He braced himself on it hard, shoulders hunched and heaving with his panting, gasping breaths. “N-Not…”

“Hm?” Ryuuji had but to think it and he was behind Mahad, plastered to his back. 

“Here…” Mahad whispered, throaty. “Where…”

Ryuuji understood. “Oh, my dear.” He kissed Mahad’s ear hotly. “Of course.”

* * *

Seth stormed down the hall. From what the acolytes said, Mahad had already attended to several of his temple and shrine duties, and Mahad was hardly one to leave abandoned the work left in his study and laboratory -- that was where he had to be now.

There were several things to address -- missives that needed authorization, several important documents that deserved discussion, as well as several artifacts and gifts for the king that Mahad should probably investigate personally --

He pushed the door open on reflex, barged into Mahad’s study like he normally did --

And promptly regretted it. 

Mahad was flushed and pressed up against the edge of stone table, though, thankfully, he was fully clothed. But that Djinn was pressed against his back, his black hair an eerie floating cloud around them. Ryuuji’s lips were mouthing salaciously along Mahad’s neck, bared by his head tilted back against Ryuuji’s shoulder. Mahad’s hnads gripped at the table with white knuckles, and he seemed lost, a  _ broken  _ expression on his face, consumed by pleasure. One of Ryuuji’s hands was at Mahad’s chest, lewdly toying with a nipple through the cloth of Mahad’s robes. The other was hidden beneath the edge of the table, but the angle, the  _ position _ told easily the tale of what it was doing down there. 

“Ryuuji,” Mahad whimpered, lewd and breathless, completely oblivious to the man that had suddenly barged in on their rather heated moment.

But Ryuuji  _ knew _ , his bright green eyes focused hard on Seth’s beet-red face. In his eyes was heated possessiveness, and a dark challenge, as if daring Seth to say or do anything, anything at all. 

Seth gulped down the painful lump in his throat. He slowly backed away, unable to tear his eyes from those vivid emeralds staring him down, even as Ryuuji’s pink tongue flashed out to lap at Mahad’s neck. 

But Seth managed to tear his eyes away, and he quietly closed the door behind him and quickly strode down the hall, his ears and cheeks hotter than the worst sunburn. 

He made a mental note to  _ always _ make sure to knock before entering any room from now on.

* * *

Ryuuji purred, his hand slithering under layers of linen to grasp at hot flesh. 

“Ryuuji!” Mahad gasped again, melting and tensing all at the same time, churning with pleasure. 

Ryuuji could only chuckle. If only Mahad knew what had just transpired… 

But, surely, Ryuuji wouldn’t be doing  _ this _ if he did.

Mahad bucked in his grasp and moaned heatedly. He was already slick, slipping easily along Ryuuji’s eager palm. Hot and thick, making Ryuuji’s heart race and his vision swim. He licked his lips and pressed a toothy kiss to Mahad’s shoulder. 

“Turn,” he growled, pulling back and licking the fluid collected on his hand. Mahad did so on shaking knees and trembling thighs, thighs that were soon under Ryuuji’s palms as he kneeled down at Mahad’s feet. He leaned forward, lewdly trailed his tongue up the linen at Mahad’s groin. “Master…” he hissed teasingly, relishing in the way Mahad stared down at him with his flushed face and panting lips. “Tell me what you wish,” he husked, hands hooking under linen to grasp at Mahad’s ankles and then trail  _ up _ , up along his toned calves and bunched, tense thighs. 

“R-Ryuuji,” was Mahad’s choked response -- Ryuuji had tilted his head and bared his teeth, rested them gently against flesh covered by linen, and laved his tongue in broad, wet stripes and puffed his breath in hot rushes. 

Mm, he was soaking the material through, exposing the flushed, bronzed flesh underneath. He eagerly mouth at the head and dug his thumbs sensually into the meat of Mahad’s thighs. The barest amount of suction had Mahad bucking and moaning.

“Mm, tell me, Mahad,” he whispered, reaching up higher to tug and fiddle with Mahad’s thin undergarments. “I live to please you,” he rasped. Another flat-tongued lick upwards made Mahad curse throatily. 

“Y-You live to torture me,” Mahad replied, croaking and breathy, and his hand came to tangle in Ryuuji’s hair gently. 

Ryuuji simpered, lewdly circled the head with his tongue. He sucked hard again, tasted the salt of Mahad’s desire through the cloth. Mahad’s mewl made him sway where he knelt. Ryuuji, dizzy with arousal and Mahad’s tantalizing scent, was giddy at the thought of sucking Mahad dry through two layers of clothing. But he hooked his thumbs into the undergarments, anyways, tugged them down. Half the material in the way seemed to make all the difference when he swirled his tongue again. 

Mahad’s hips stuttered, and Ryuuji pinned them to the stone table again. He breathed hotly -- Mahad’s head kicked back and he cried out. 

“Only when it makes you feel good,” Ryuuji purred and sucked the head harshly again over the linen. 

“W-Wicked creature,” Mahad whimpered. 

Ryuuji pouted; it seemed as though he wouldn’t get Mahad to  _ ask _ him to do it, and he was growing impatient with desire. A surprised yelp echoed off the walls when Ryuuji ducked beneath the edge of the robe and slithered up between Mahad’s muscular thighs. The linen draped over his back, cocooned him in Mahad’s heady scent, made him dizzy with it. 

He grasped at Mahad’s flesh, slick with saliva and leaking fluids, and eagerly lapped at the bare skin with his clever tongue. Mahad’s hands settled on him again, though this time over damp cloth, and Ryuuji moaned in response. Lapping, swirling, then a suck, feeling hot, flushed skin against his lips. 

“ _ Ryuuji! _ ” Mahad hissed, strained, like through gritted teeth. 

Ryuuji smirked, then sank down, lips parted and hands grasping at Mahad’s tensed hips. Ryuuji huffed with arousal.

_ Utterly delicious. _

It wasn’t until much later that Mahad managed to get  _ any _ work done in his study.

* * *

The coolness of night fell easily over the palace, and though Ryuuji was hardly affected by temperatures of any extreme variety, he still relished the warmth of Mahad’s bed when he crawled into it. Mahad was lying on his side, his bare back to Ryuuji. He didn’t react when Ryuuji pressed close, draped an arm over his side.

Ryuuji chuckled. “Are you still irritated with me?”

Mahad didn’t reply.

Ryuuji laughed softly and nuzzled just beneath Mahad’s ear. The magician melted. “I promise I hadn’t intended to escalate it as far as I did.” He traced ghostly circles on Mahad’s stomach. “You are simply irresistible.”

“We broke several priceless objects,” Mahad mumbled, and Ryuuji could  _ feel _ the heat in Mahad’s cheeks. 

“Not a problem -- I can return them to as good as they were before with but a twitch of my finger.” Though he refrained from mentioning that it was  _ Mahad _ who had broken the things with all of his passionate thrashing after Ryuuji had decided that he could not wait any longer to partake in his magician’s hot, tight body.

“That’s not the point,” Mahad whispered, breathy when Ryuuji plied more kisses to his tender neck. He made no motion to stop Ryuuji when his hand dipped below the edge of the sheet to caress his hip. 

“Then what angers you so, my dearest?” Ryuuji cooed, sincerely, lifting himself onto his shoulder to peer down at Mahad’s face.

Mahad turned his head to meet his eyes. 

“Do you truly dislike it when I initiate contact with you when you have other things to attend to?” Ryuuji asked, back to gently rubbing his thumb into the crest of Mahad’s hip. “I didn’t think it would be a problem -- no matters today were pressing.”

Mahad’s face softened, and he rolled onto his back, now directly under Ryuuji’s body. “No, no,” he reached up, cupped Ryuuji’s cheek. His palm was big and warm and calloused, and Ryuuji nuzzled into the touch. “The problem is, in fact, the opposite.” Mahad’s eyes were half-lidded, and heat sparked in their dark depths. “I have never felt this way -- I cannot seem to control myself around you,” he murmured. Ryuuji was leaning down, closer, and Mahad moved his arm to wrap it behind his shoulders and neck. “It frightens me, this force between us.” He laughed softly, and the gust of it huffed against Ryuuji’s lips. “I knew if you accompanied me today, I would have ended up being taken over and over in the most indecent places and I would have loved every second of it,” he said, flushed with embarrassment at his own words.

Ryuuji was speechless, staring down at his magician with parted lips.

“It… it is not how I would normally behave,” Mahad whispered. “I am not such lewd, lascivious person.” He arched up until their lips were brushing together. “And I have never felt desire such as this.”

“Neither have I,” Ryuuji replied, his tongue flicking out the briefest moment to swipe over Mahad’s lower lip. “I wish we were still on that island, making love under the stars without a worry or responsibility.” He settled down between Mahad’s thighs, felt their bare bodies press flush together. “But I know how much serving your king and country means to you.” His hand slid along Mahad’s thigh, hooked under his knee, and hitched his leg up against his hip in tandem with a teasing thrust. “And I intend to make good on those desires whenever I can.”

Mahad moaned softly, his head lolling back against the bed. “ _ Yes.” _

He teased his magician with oiled fingers, pleasured him from the inside until he was mewling and panting and begging, and then he was taking him, hands grasping at hot, twitching thighs, lips gasping against each other. It felt as though he had known Mahad’s body forever, that they had been entwined forever, since time began and until time meets its end, though they’d only touched in such a way the first time the night before. 

Mahad’s noises were so lewd and so sweet, all of his reservations thrown away as he rocked back into each demanding thrust and clutched Ryuuji tight with shaking fingers. And then he was touching himself, tweaking his nipple between two fingers and his lips parted wide. Ryuuji growled, hot with arousal and slick with sweat, rapt with the prurient sight before him. He gripped harder, tugged Mahad onto him with each snap of his hips. Mahad had been beautiful in the moonlight on the beach, and he was beautiful now, tangled in linen sheets and cool desert air turned hot by their passion.

“Harder,  _ harder _ ,” Mahad was mewling, and Ryuuji pulled away to flip him over onto his hands and knees and wrap his fist tight in that sweat-dampened hair and press his head down and lift his hips up and consume him completely. The wooden bedframe creaked and rapped into the stone wall, and Mahad’s sweet sounds made Ryuuji’s breath shorten and his vision swim and his thighs jump. Each slick thrust had Mahad groaning and mewling and lurching and writhing. Ryuuji pulled his head up, licked at that sweat-lined throat, punctuated a playful bite with a hard thrust, and Mahad was  _ gone _ , coming untouched. 

Ryuuji fucked into him hard, chased the pleasure until he was nuzzling blindly into Mahad’s neck and emptying it all inside him. “Yes,” Mahad breathed, as they swayed those last moments together, milked the last of the honey-sweet pleasure. They still panted, hot in the cool night, and they didn’t bother to disentangle as they slumped onto their sides on the bed. Ryuuji brushed his hand over the back of Mahad’s, and he gently tangled their fingers together. Sweat cooled and dried, panting breaths and racing hearts slowed, and they were basking in the warm afterglow. 

Ryuuji nuzzled Mahad’s shoulder. “I love you so,” he whispered.

“I love you,” Mahad replied in kind, gently squeezing his hand for just a moment before he went lax again. Perhaps it was only minutes before Mahad’s breathing evened and he was drifting off to sleep, but it felt like a sweet eternity to Ryuuji. 

Ryuuji need not sleep, though sometimes he indulged in it to experience dreams and that warm comfort of deep slumber. But, for now, he felt content lying against Mahad’s body, feeling his slow breaths and gentle stirrings. Some time later, sleep seemed no more appealing to him, so he drew back gently, slipping from Mahad’s body -- which made the priest twitch and whine in his sleep, and disentangled himself from the sheets. 

He drifted to the linen curtains, billowing in the cool nighttime breeze, and, naked, drifted out onto the balcony. Here, it directly faced the Nile, which was alive with the songs of night birds and nocturnal insects. Khemet became a different place at night -- the unforgiving desert softened to a cool silver in the moonlight, and the harsh heat of the sun was replaced by the chill of night. Animals that had hidden themselves away from the harsh rays now explored beneath the light of the moon. Lotuses bloomed on the stiller waters and filled the air with their heady scent.

He tilted his head back, breathed in the sweetness of the air. It was beautiful here. He understood why Mahad loved his homeland so fiercely. 

Between one blink and the next, he was blinded by a light, white and pure. Familiarity coursed through him, and he stared directly into the bright vortex whirling in front of him. From the rays of light, thousands of feathers on dozens of wings unfolded like the petals of a thick flower.  _ She _ was the bright center, the core, and her skin emanated a light brighter than even that of her many wings. Light flowed from her, thick and wispy like mist, though all else had stilled -- the animals, the waters, the wind. Time was frozen for this moment between them. 

_ ‘Ryuuji, my son,’ _ came her voice, thick with motherly love, and it embraced him in its arms like how she leaned forward to curl her arms and wings around him. He embraced back, arms slipping over the smoothest silk and the softed feathers.

“Mother,” he whispered back, tears stinging his eyes. 

Her hands, soft and intense and making every scrap of magic within him vibrate, cupped his cheeks.  _ ‘You are free at last,’ _ she whispered, her lips touching his forehead.  _ ‘For so long I wished it was within my power to free you.’ _ Her fingers carded through his hair, fixed and doted and fussed. 

“I harbor no blame toward you, Mother,” he assured, smiling fondly and nudging her hands aside. 

_ ‘It has been millennia since you have come home to me, my son.’ _ Her wings continuously shifted around them, feathers gliding over one another, slipping like silk.  _ ‘I miss all my children, but you especially, Ryuuji. Come home with me, Ryuuji.’ _

He smiled sadly, looked over his shoulder where the curtains -- frozen mid-air -- allowed him a glimpse of Mahad asleep in their bed. He turned back to the shining being before him on the balcony. “I can’t, Mother.”

She smiled back, bittersweet, and she tucked a lock of hair behind his ear.  _ ‘You love him.’ _

“I do,” he croaked, tears welling up in his eyes. 

_ ‘Oh, my sweet baby boy.’ _ Her gentle thumbs swiped away the droplets that escaped to cascade down his cheeks.  _ ‘What a man he must be to enthrall your heart so.’ _

“He amazes me more every day,” Ryuuji replied, laughing wetly. “He set me free, Mother, in so many ways. I belong by his side, and he by mine.”

_ ‘Very well.’ _ She leaned forward, brushed her lips on his forehead once more.  _ ‘Love him well, love him as long as you can, love him while you have the chance. I will always be waiting for you, but a mortal’s years are numbered, no matter how much we wish they could be with us forever.’ _

“I will, Mother,” he whispered, and her hand stroked along his cheek in farewell, and then, as suddenly as she appeared, she was gone.

The wind whispered through the reeds, and the Nile lapped at its banks, and the night animals continued their song as though nothing happened. The cool breeze dried the tears on Ryuuji’s face, and, with a hitching sigh, he turned to step back into the dark of the bedroom. He slipped onto the bed, under the covers, and Mahad stirred, turning toward him to drape an arm over him. 

“You left…” Mahad whispered, his words slurring together as he blinked sleepily. 

“No,” Ryuuji murmured, stroking Mahad’s cheek and watching as the gentle touch lulled Mahad back to sleep. “No, I never left.”


End file.
